{"id":4822,"date":"2012-04-16T04:00:28","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=4822"},"modified":"2021-03-31T17:44:51","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T23:44:51","slug":"swainsons-hawk-foy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/04\/16\/swainsons-hawk-foy\/","title":{"rendered":"Swainson’s Hawk (FOY)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PerchedPerched Swainson’s Hawk adult – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week while searching for Golden Eagles to photograph in Box Elder County<\/span><\/a>, Utah I spotted two Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni<\/em>) adults; my first of the year sightings, the first one perched on a power pole.\u00a0 Normally I prefer perches that are not so obviously man made but I was hoping for some lift off shots.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Swainson’s Hawk lifting off – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

In this next frame the\u00a0hawk did just that, it lifted off.<\/p>\n

\"Swainson'sSwainson’s Hawk spreading its wings – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Taking off from the power pole it didn’t take long for the Swainson’s to spread out its magnificent wings. It was looking at something across the road to the east where a farmer was working in a field. The farmer may have been stirring up insects or causing small rodents to scurry across the soil in plain view of the raptor.<\/p>\n

\"Swainson'sSwainson’s Hawk in flight – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of grabbing prey from the field the hawk wheeled over it and headed back towards the perch it had left only moments before.<\/p>\n

\"Swainson'sSwainson’s concentrating on its landing perch – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This light morph Swainson’s seemed to prefer perching on the thin wire attached to the power pole rather than on top of it, I imagine that it takes concentration to land on such a tiny perch.<\/p>\n

\"Swainson'sSwainson’s Hawk prior to landing – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Here the perch was just slightly above where the hawk was. I wish the angle of the light had lit up the underside of the bird better, but I am still happy with this pose, the sky\/cloud background and the intense look of concentration in the eye of the Swainson’s.<\/p>\n

\"Swainson'sSwainson’s Hawk about to land – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Wow, I love this pose and wish I could have gotten it without the wires in the background.<\/p>\n

\"Swainson'sSwainson’s Hawk flying away – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Another Swainson’s Hawk came in and landed on top of one of the power poles nearby and although I took images of\u00a0 it, the angle was rather steep.<\/p>\n

Then the Swainson’s that had landed on the wire took off and I was able to get this image as it flew past.<\/p>\n

I’m hoping to have many more opportunities to photograph Swainson’s Hawks this year both in Utah and Montana or just about anywhere I can find them!<\/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":"

Last week while searching for Golden Eagles to photograph in Box Elder County, Utah I spotted two Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) adults; my first of the year sightings, the first one perched on a power pole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10567,"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":[27,1148,206,26],"tags":[4004,4021,4200,788,4052,4122,4169,4123,4282,2670,4104,153,4034],"class_list":["post-4822","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-bird-photography","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-first-of-year","tag-flight","tag-flying","tag-hawks","tag-landing","tag-lift-off","tag-light-morph","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-swainsons-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/swainsons-hawk-mia-mcpherson-flight-3123.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1fM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":105569,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/29\/dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":4822,"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":"October 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By this time of the year Swainson's Hawks have left Utah and headed towards South America to their wintering grounds but the memories I have of the hawks never leave me.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sub-adult Swainson's Hawk perched on a rusty pole, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-howell-mia-mcpherosn-5225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-howell-mia-mcpherosn-5225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/swainsons-hawk-adult-sage-mia-mcpherson-6411.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/swainsons-hawk-adult-sage-mia-mcpherson-6411.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/swainsons-hawk-adult-sage-mia-mcpherson-6411.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/swainsons-hawk-adult-sage-mia-mcpherson-6411.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":26006,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/06\/30\/a-swainsons-hawk-in-box-elder-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":4822,"position":3},"title":"Swainson’s Hawk in Box Elder County","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 30, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I am always happy to photograph Swainson's Hawks no matter where I find them so I was pleased to find this one perched on a lichen covered rock yesterday in Box Elder County, Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Swainson\u2019s Hawk lifting off from a lichen covered boulder in Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/swainsons-hawk-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2758.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/swainsons-hawk-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2758.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/swainsons-hawk-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2758.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/swainsons-hawk-lift-off-mia-mcpherson-2758.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9482,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/09\/17\/the-juvenile-swainsons-hawk-that-saved-my-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":4822,"position":4},"title":"The Juvenile Swainson’s Hawk That Saved My Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was frustrating for me near Snowville, Utah because there were raptors all around but not many of them were close enough to photograph and the ones that were close were either vey skittish or wouldn't fly off of the power poles even after long periods of time.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yawning juvenile Swainson's Hawk, Box Elder County, 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Sunflowers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Two days ago I was able to photograph an immature Swainson's Hawk in golden light perched on a fence post that was surrounded by bright yellow common sunflowers. Yes, I was blissed out.","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":"Calling immature Swainson's Hawk and wild sunflowers, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/swainsons-hawk-immature-sunflowers-mia-mcpherson-9405.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/swainsons-hawk-immature-sunflowers-mia-mcpherson-9405.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/swainsons-hawk-immature-sunflowers-mia-mcpherson-9405.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/swainsons-hawk-immature-sunflowers-mia-mcpherson-9405.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\/4822","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=4822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}