{"id":16074,"date":"2014-10-07T04:59:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T10:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=16074"},"modified":"2023-05-08T15:12:36","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T21:12:36","slug":"swainsons-hawk-in-evening-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/07\/swainsons-hawk-in-evening-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Swainson’s Hawk in evening light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LightLight morph Swainson’s Hawk in evening light in flight over the Centennial Valley – Nikon D810, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

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. The\u00a0Swainson’s were fueling up for their long migration to Argentina through the Isthmus of Panama and then south through the Andes. Their migration can take up to two months and cover 14,000 miles.<\/p>\n

I’ve shared the photographs of this birds young earlier in these previous posts:\u00a0 A Very Obliging Swainson\u2019s Hawk Juvenile<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0Light morph Swainson\u2019s Hawk juvenile in low light<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0\u00a0Bird Photography Isn\u2019t Easy But It Does Have Its Rewards<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

This adult usually was within eye sight of the juveniles but at times it would fly away to where I couldn’t see it. One of the young hawks was very vocal and called to the adult quite often but when the adult didn’t respond it would search for prey on its own. It is a tough life for these young raptors and many don’t survive their first migration or beyond their first year of life.<\/p>\n

I am seeing fewer Swainson’s Hawks now in Utah because most of them have already headed south but in April I expect I will squeal with delight when I see them here again.<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16073,"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":[4004,2692,4021,4471,2663,4200,4433,4052,4122,4169,2237,2670,530,153,4034],"class_list":["post-16074","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-adult","tag-argentina","tag-bird-photography","tag-bird-watching","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-evening-light","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-montana","tag-light-morph","tag-migration","tag-raptors","tag-swainsons-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/swainsons-hawk-light-morph-mia-mcpherson-2871.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-4bg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9300,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/08\/28\/the-summer-of-swainsons-is-nearing-an-end\/","url_meta":{"origin":16074,"position":0},"title":"The Summer of Swainson’s Is Nearing An End","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It won't be long before Swainson's Hawks start to migrate to South America and some may already have started their journey south.","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 adult gliding by","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/swainsonshawk-adult-light-mia-mcpherson-3220.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/swainsonshawk-adult-light-mia-mcpherson-3220.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sub-adult 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\/2015\/04\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-mia-mcpherson-7348.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-mia-mcpherson-7348.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-mia-mcpherson-7348.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-mia-mcpherson-7348.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Valley","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/swainsons-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-4620.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/swainsons-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-4620.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/swainsons-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-4620.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/swainsons-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-4620.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15883,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/09\/20\/light-morph-swainsons-hawk-juvenile-in-low-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":16074,"position":3},"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, 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Sometimes I wish I could \"speak\" raptor so I could know what they are saying.","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":"Calling adult Swainson's Hawk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/swainsons-hawk-adult-calling-mia-mcpherson-3534.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/swainsons-hawk-adult-calling-mia-mcpherson-3534.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/swainsons-hawk-adult-calling-mia-mcpherson-3534.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/swainsons-hawk-adult-calling-mia-mcpherson-3534.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15319,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/07\/05\/dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":16074,"position":5},"title":"Dark morph Swainson’s Hawk In Flight","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This dark morph Swainson's Hawk was on a hillside that we came upon while leaving the Centennial Valley to head back to Utah.","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":"Dark morph Swainson's Hawk on the wing","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-9973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-9973.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-9973.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-9973.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\/16074","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=16074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}