{"id":46522,"date":"2017-05-02T05:19:46","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T11:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=46522"},"modified":"2021-03-31T14:33:05","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T20:33:05","slug":"light-morph-swainsons-hawk-with-different-backgrounds-and-distances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/02\/light-morph-swainsons-hawk-with-different-backgrounds-and-distances\/","title":{"rendered":"Light Morph Swainson’s Hawk with Different Backgrounds and Distances"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Light<\/a>Light morph Swainson’s Hawk side view – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though it started off cloudy yesterday morning here in Salt Lake City the radar\/satellite indicated that there might be some cloud free skies further north and with high hopes that is where I wanted to be. The radar\/satellite was mostly right and I did have some sunshine along with Swainson’s Hawks, plenty of Swainson’s Hawks. I think I saw more Swainson’s Hawks yesterday than I have ever seen other than a very large kettle of them I saw in Montana several years ago during migration.<\/p>\n

I had beautiful views of this light morph Swainson’s Hawk from the north side of the road.<\/p>\n

\"Light<\/a>Light morph Swainson’s Hawk perched on a square post – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 400, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The background in these first two photos was mostly high dried grasses (lower portion of the frame) and distant mountains that the sun was shining on which gave me a lot of tans, browns, and a touch of green in the background.<\/p>\n

\"Swainson's<\/a>Swainson’s Hawk light morph close up in profile – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 400, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

By moving further west and closer to the Swainson’s Hawk the background behind the bird changed dramatically because instead of the sun shining on the distant mountains there was a cloud that cast shadows on them which gave me a more blue toned background behind the hawk. Because I was closer to the hawk the nearby dried grasses were not visible in this image or the one below and the angle of my lens was also slightly different.<\/p>\n

The Swainson’s had a loose feather that was stuck in its gape and touched the lower edge of its eyes in this frame.<\/p>\n

\"Light<\/a>Light morph Swainson’s Hawk view of talons – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/1000, ISO 400, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The Swainson’s Hawk scratched that loose feather several times but didn’t dislodge it while I was with the bird. In this frame at least the feather didn’t obstruct my view of the hawk’s dark brown eye.<\/p>\n

I always try to pay attention to what is going on in the background of my photos because by changing distance or angles the same bird, like this Swainson’s Hawk, can look very different in my images. The sunshine and shadows also helped to created different backgrounds in these Swainson’s Hawk photos.<\/p>\n

Bird photography is fun and 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

The differences in angles and backgrounds can also be seen in these two posts:<\/em><\/p>\n

Great Horned Owl Chick \u2013 Angles and Backgrounds<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

A Wind Blown Great Blue Heron Photographed Using Different Angles<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I always try to pay attention to what is going on in the background of my photos because by changing distance or angles the same bird, like this Swainson’s Hawk, can look very different in my images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46519,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1148,206,26],"tags":[4004,210,859,4021,2663,4200,2497,4142,4169,2670,4069,4104,5844,153,1994,4034,5845],"class_list":["post-46522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-swainson-hawks","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-angles","tag-backgrounds","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-buteos","tag-close-up","tag-hawks","tag-light-morph","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-profile","tag-raptors","tag-shadow","tag-swainsons-hawk","tag-tan-background"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-scratch-mia-mcpherson-6868.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-c6m","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":105569,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/29\/dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":46522,"position":0},"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, 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McPherson","date":"April 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning in northern Utah I saw about a dozen Swainson's Hawks in about 2.25 miles, some were perched, some were in flight and all of them were wonderful to photograph.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of dark morph Swainson's Hawk in golden light","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-portrait-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4258.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-portrait-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4258.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":"Adult Swainson's Hawk intermediate morph","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/swainsons-hawk-adult-flying-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/swainsons-hawk-adult-flying-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/swainsons-hawk-adult-flying-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/swainsons-hawk-adult-flying-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Hawk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-9068.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-9068.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-9068.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-9068.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50679,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/15\/box-elder-county-dark-morph-swainsons-hawk\/","url_meta":{"origin":46522,"position":4},"title":"Box Elder County Dark Morph Swainson\u2019s Hawk","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When I can get beautiful light on a Swainson's Hawk and deeply shadowed mountains in the background Mother Nature creates the drama.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dark morph Swainson's Hawk with shadowed mountains in the background","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-blues-mia-mcpherson-6681.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-blues-mia-mcpherson-6681.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-blues-mia-mcpherson-6681.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-blues-mia-mcpherson-6681.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16074,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2014\/10\/07\/swainsons-hawk-in-evening-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":46522,"position":5},"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 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