{"id":2427,"date":"2011-06-03T05:01:45","date_gmt":"2011-06-03T12:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2427"},"modified":"2021-03-31T17:50:56","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T23:50:56","slug":"friday-photos-a-friendly-swainsons-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/06\/03\/friday-photos-a-friendly-swainsons-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Photos: A Friendly Swainson&#8217;s Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #627762;\"><strong><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-30535 size-full\" title=\"Adult Swainson's Hawk portrait with the Great Salt Lake in the background\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8379.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8379.jpg\" alt=\"Adult Swainson's Hawk portrait with the Great Salt Lake in the background\" width=\"703\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27703%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20703%20800%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27703%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8379-220x250.jpg 220w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8379-264x300.jpg 264w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8379.jpg 703w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 703px) 100vw, 703px\" \/><\/strong><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Swainson&#8217;s\u00a0Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) portrait with the Great Salt Lake\u00a0in the\u00a0background &#8211; <\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/750, ISO 400, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Last Friday I came upon this Swainson&#8217;s Hawk; not just once but twice, perched on signs very close to the road. While seeing a hawk perched on a sign isn&#8217;t all that unusual (in fact it happens quite often) having it remain on the signs while getting close enough to photograph the bird&#8217;s portrait is.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This hawk didn&#8217;t seem to mind my presence using a mobile blind (vehicle). It preened, stretched, and gazed at the surrounding area. It stayed on this perch for over 5 minutes while I photographed it until a small motor home pulled up to view the bird and then it flew off.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-30540 size-full\" title=\"Adult Swainson's on a speed limit sign\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-sign-mia-mcpherson-8461.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-sign-mia-mcpherson-8461.jpg\" alt=\"Adult Swainson's on a speed limit sign\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-sign-mia-mcpherson-8461-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-sign-mia-mcpherson-8461-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-sign-mia-mcpherson-8461.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Swainson&#8217;s\u00a0Hawk perched on a speed limit sign &#8211; <\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Nikon D200, f8, 1\/350, ISO 400, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 200mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Normally I prefer to take images of birds perched on natural features though I do take advantage of situations like this one to get close up shots of birds perched on man made objects. I find the top photo more appealing to my tastes because it doesn&#8217;t contain the speed limit sign.\u00a0\u00a0I love seeing the out of focus Great Salt Lake, Egg Island, and distant mountains in the image above yet I sure wish that the speed limit sign had been an old tree stump or other natural object.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Another time perhaps.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">(By the way, the speed limit sign <em><strong>is<\/strong><\/em> actually that crooked!)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/swainsons-hawk-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">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":"<p>Last Friday I came upon this Swainson&#8217;s Hawk; not just once but twice,  perched on signs very close to the road. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30535,"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":[511,1022,322,206,26],"tags":[4004,58,215,4200,4142,4005,4033,4169,4124,4104,4046,4019,4063,4681,10061,4034,3996],"class_list":["post-2427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-antelope-island-state-park","category-davis-county-utah","category-portraits","category-swainson-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-antelope-island-sp","tag-bird-id","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-close-up","tag-great-salt-lake","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-mobile-blind","tag-perched","tag-portrait","tag-preening-2","tag-raptor","tag-sign","tag-speed-limit-sign","tag-swainsons-hawk","tag-water"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/swainsons-hawk-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8379.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-D9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8175,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/04\/23\/adult-swainsons-hawk-portrait\/","url_meta":{"origin":2427,"position":0},"title":"Adult Swainson&#8217;s Hawk Portrait","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The other day I came across that post and felt very embarrassed because on that post I realized I had incorrectly ID'd this bird as a Red-tailed Hawk.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Swainson's Hawk portrait on Antelope Island","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/swainsons-hawk-adult-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8502.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/swainsons-hawk-adult-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8502.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/swainsons-hawk-adult-portrait-mia-mcpherson-8502.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":2427,"position":1},"title":"Dark Morph Swainson&#8217;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 &quot;Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge&quot;","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":[]},{"id":42229,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/25\/farewell-to-the-swainsons-hawks-im-looking-forward-to-rough-legged-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":2427,"position":2},"title":"Farewell To The Swainson&#8217;s Hawks &#8211; I&#8217;m Looking Forward To Rough-legged Hawks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Even though I am saying a fond farewell to the Swainson's Hawks I'm also looking forward to Rough-legged Hawks gracing my life for another season.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antelope Island State Park&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antelope Island State Park","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/antelope-island-state-park\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eye level Rough-legged Hawk in flight, Antelope Island State Park, Davis County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-gliding-mia-mcpherson-9388.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-gliding-mia-mcpherson-9388.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-gliding-mia-mcpherson-9388.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-gliding-mia-mcpherson-9388.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9300,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/08\/28\/the-summer-of-swainsons-is-nearing-an-end\/","url_meta":{"origin":2427,"position":3},"title":"The Summer of Swainson&#8217;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 &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/swainsonshawk-adult-light-mia-mcpherson-3220.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/swainsonshawk-adult-light-mia-mcpherson-3220.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8552,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/09\/swainsons-hawks-in-montana-and-the-chase-is-on\/","url_meta":{"origin":2427,"position":4},"title":"Swainson&#8217;s Hawks In Montana &#8211; And The Chase Is On","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I've just returned from spending six wonderful days photographing in western Montana, the weather was lovely, the scenery spectacular and the birds; as usual, were awesome including these two Swainson's Hawks.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Beaverhead County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Beaverhead County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Swainson\u2019s Hawk in its first spring, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/swainson-hawk-second-year-mia-mcpherson-7341.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/swainson-hawk-second-year-mia-mcpherson-7341.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/swainson-hawk-second-year-mia-mcpherson-7341.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/swainson-hawk-second-year-mia-mcpherson-7341.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46120,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/10\/my-first-of-year-swainsons-hawk-and-april-snow-on-antelope-island\/","url_meta":{"origin":2427,"position":5},"title":"My First of Year Swainson&#8217;s Hawk and April Snow on Antelope Island","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"My best find of the day was my first of the year Swainson's Hawk about two thirds of the way down the island perched in some trees near a freshwater spring.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Bison&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Bison","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/wildlife\/bison\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"First of Year Swainson's Hawk with snowy mountains in the background","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-snow-mia-mcpherson-4962.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-snow-mia-mcpherson-4962.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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