{"id":15883,"date":"2014-09-20T05:59:28","date_gmt":"2014-09-20T11:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15883"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:17:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T20:17:40","slug":"light-morph-swainsons-hawk-juvenile-in-low-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/20\/light-morph-swainsons-hawk-juvenile-in-low-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Light Morph Swainson’s Hawk Juvenile In Low Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

While in Montana earlier this month I had several opportunities to photograph juvenile Swainson’s Hawks that were close and approachable but I didn’t always have great light.<\/p>\n

\"LightLight morph juvenile Swainson’s Hawk – Nikon D810, f9, 1\/500, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The light was at times plain awful because of storm clouds and spitting rain coming through the Centennial Valley and Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"StormyStormy weather over Wigeon Pond, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge – Nikon D200, handheld, f16, 1\/45, ISO 500, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

The weather at times just plain sucked but those beautiful Swainson’s Hawk juvenile just couldn’t wait because of cold weather coming in (it got down to a low of 11\u00b0F a few days later) I thought the Swainson’s might\u00a0migrate soon.<\/p>\n

I\u00a0believe the cold did affect the grasshoppers which are the main prey of Swainson’s Hawks during their time in the northern hemisphere because I saw large flocks of ravens walking slowly through the grasses\u00a0where they were most likely eating grasshoppers like we eat popcorn while watching a movie along with smaller flocks of Swainson’s Hawks.<\/p>\n

\"HeadHead on stare from a light morph juvenile Swainson’s Hawk\u00a0– Nikon D810, f9, 1\/400, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Even though the light conditions weren’t the best I knew my opportunities with these juveniles were limited and I wanted to photograph them despite the poor light.<\/p>\n

This particular Swainson’s juvenile that I spotted seemed to ignore passing pickups, cars and SUV’s and didn’t even flinch when they would rumble by just six to eight feet from it, maybe even closer. I could photograph them from the other side of the dusty road without disturbing the young hawks.<\/p>\n

The out of focus background in these\u00a0images show dried grasses at the lower edge of the frame then the darker gray\/blue area above it is distant mountains and above that in light gray is the stormy sky.<\/p>\n

\"LightLight morph Swainson’s Hawk juvenile with its eyes on the sky\u00a0– Nikon D810, f9, 1\/500, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Whenever a bird is close to me I feel honored that they allow me into their world where I can see the details in their plumage, the light reflecting in their eyes and watch their behavior through my lens. I know just how special that is even when it happens in cruddy light.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Swainson\u2019s Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While in Montana earlier this month I had several opportunities to photograph juvenile Swainson’s Hawks that were close and approachable but I didn’t always have great light. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1513,27,223,12,608,206],"tags":[2663,4200,4033,4169,2237,4067,4071,2670,156,4063,2239,4034],"class_list":["post-15883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-swainson-hawks","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-montana","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-light-morph","tag-low-light-2","tag-raptor","tag-sub-adult","tag-swainsons-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-head-on-mia-mcpherson-4873.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-48b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16074,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/07\/swainsons-hawk-in-evening-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":15883,"position":0},"title":"Swainson’s Hawk in evening light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"October 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A month ago I was in the Centennial Valley of Montana camping and the hawks I spent the most time photographing were Swainson's Hawks.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Light morph Swainson's Hawk in flight over the Centennial Valley","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/swainsons-hawk-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-2871.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/swainsons-hawk-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-2871.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Obliging Swainson’s Hawk Juvenile","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"For three days I had great fun photographing two very obliging Swainson's Hawk juveniles at the east end of the Centennial Valley and by obliging I mean they were very approachable.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Swainson's Hawk portrait","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3702.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3702.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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It means with patience and plenty of time in the field I do get it right.","rel":"","context":"In "Beaverhead County"","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Portrait of a Swainson's Hawk light morph juvenile","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3666.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3666.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-portrait-mia-mcpherson-3666.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":105569,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/29\/dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":15883,"position":5},"title":"Dark Morph Swainson’s Hawk Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Early yesterday morning on my way to the auto tour route at Bear River MBR I was delighted to see and photograph not just one dark morph Swainson's Hawk but two.","rel":"","context":"In "Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge"","block_context":{"text":"Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/bear-river-migratory-bird-refuge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult dark morph Swainson's Hawk in lift off pose, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swainsons-hawk-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-8199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swainsons-hawk-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-8199.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swainsons-hawk-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-8199.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/swainsons-hawk-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-8199.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}