{"id":15970,"date":"2014-09-26T05:23:44","date_gmt":"2014-09-26T11:23:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=15970"},"modified":"2021-03-31T16:00:24","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T22:00:24","slug":"head-on-stare-from-a-juvenile-swainsons-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/26\/head-on-stare-from-a-juvenile-swainsons-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Head on stare from a juvenile Swainson’s Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HeadHead on stare from a juvenile Swainson’s Hawk – Nikon D810, f8, 1\/400, ISO 800, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This juvenile Swainson’s Hawk was photographed earlier this month in Beaverhead County<\/span><\/a>, Montana on a cloudy morning with low light. Even though the light isn’t perfect I like the muted colors in the background and how they contrast with the warmer tones in the young hawk’s plumage.<\/p>\n

I also like the head on stare I was getting from the hawk and the connection I felt looking into its eyes.<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

This juvenile Swainson’s Hawk was photographed earlier this month in Beaverhead County, Montana on a cloudy morning with low light. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15969,"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":[1513,27,12,206],"tags":[4021,2663,4200,3830,898,4033,4169,2237,5023,4067,4071,156,4104,6205,4034,4032,8917],"class_list":["post-15970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-montana","category-swainson-hawks","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-fence","tag-fence-post","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-montana","tag-head-on","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-low-light-2","tag-perched","tag-stare","tag-swainsons-hawk","tag-wildlife-photography","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-perched-mia-mcpherson-6885.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-49A","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15883,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/20\/light-morph-swainsons-hawk-juvenile-in-low-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":15970,"position":0},"title":"Light Morph Swainson’s Hawk Juvenile In Low Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","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":"Head on stare from a light morph juvenile Swainson\u2019s Hawk, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-head-on-mia-mcpherson-4873.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-head-on-mia-mcpherson-4873.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-head-on-mia-mcpherson-4873.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-head-on-mia-mcpherson-4873.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6006,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/08\/28\/juvenile-swainsons-hawk-in-beaverhead-county-montana\/","url_meta":{"origin":15970,"position":1},"title":"Juvenile Swainson’s Hawk in Beaverhead County, Montana","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 28, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Not only did I see numerous Red-tailed Hawk juveniles on my recent trip to Montana, I also saw quite a few Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) juveniles too.","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":"Swainson\u2019s Hawk juvenile, intermediate morph, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2259.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2259.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2259.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-2259.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19219,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/01\/31\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-in-low-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":15970,"position":2},"title":"Swainson’s Hawk Juvenile In Low Light","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I wonder if this juvenile Swainson's made the long migration to South America and if I will see it again in the Centennial Valley of Montana this spring.","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":"Swainson's Hawk juvenile in low light","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6818.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6818.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6818.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-6818.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5148.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5148.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5148.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/red-tailed-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-5148.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48121,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/08\/15\/time-to-be-on-the-lookout-for-juvenile-swainsons-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":15970,"position":4},"title":"Time to be on the Lookout for Juvenile Swainson’s Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw my first juvenile Swainson's Hawk of the year last week and although it didn't give me any opportunities to take better images of it I was happy to see it perched on a power pole.","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":"Swainson's Hawk juvenile on old fence post","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-9601.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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