{"id":50679,"date":"2018-01-15T05:11:54","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T12:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=50679"},"modified":"2021-03-31T14:23:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T20:23:37","slug":"box-elder-county-dark-morph-swainsons-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/01\/15\/box-elder-county-dark-morph-swainsons-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"Box Elder County Dark Morph Swainson\u2019s Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DarkDark morph Swainson’s Hawk with shadowed mountains in the background – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday we reached a high of 53\u00b0F in Salt Lake City, it was the third day of temps above 50\u00b0F in a row, in January, in northern Utah. It feels more like late March or early April and I’m wondering if winter decided to pass us by. I hope not because we really need more snow pack in the mountains to fill the reservoirs to provide water for the summer and fall.<\/p>\n

At least my sinus headache finally left me alone yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n

I dug into my archives from last spring to find something to share here today and came up with this gorgeous dark morph Swainson’s Hawk that I photographed last May in Box Elder County<\/span><\/a>. I recall that during May of 2017 I saw more dark morph Swainson’s Hawks than I had seen in May of any previous year since my move to Utah in 2009. It was exciting for me to to see and photograph so many dark morph Swainson’s Hawks.<\/p>\n

When I can get beautiful light on a Swainson’s Hawk and deeply shadowed mountains in the background Mother Nature creates the drama. The hawk stands out like a glorious feathered beacon in the morning light against a dark velvety blue background or maybe it is more like a rich indigo blue. This photo became one of my favorite Swainson’s Hawk images from last spring and I simply don’t know why I haven’t shared it on my blog before today especially since it has been in my photo galleries since right after I photographed this bird.<\/p>\n

It won’t be all that long before the Swainson’s leave South America and start to head our way 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":"

When I can get beautiful light on a Swainson’s Hawk and deeply shadowed mountains in the background Mother Nature creates the drama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46537,"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":[4004,2663,4200,4530,898,4033,4169,4069,4104,153,4034,8917],"class_list":["post-50679","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-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-dark-morph","tag-fence-post","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-swainsons-hawk","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-blues-mia-mcpherson-6681.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-dbp","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":50679,"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 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I was thrilled and delighted to photograph a very cooperative dark morph Swainson's Hawk up close yesterday morning in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Box Elder County"","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/box-elder-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Swainson's Hawk dark morph looking down, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-mia-mcpherson-9737.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-mia-mcpherson-9737.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-mia-mcpherson-9737.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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McPherson","date":"April 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I was able to photograph several Swainson's Hawks, some perched and others while in flight and of the flight photos I liked this photo the most because of the mountains in the background.","rel":"","context":"In "Box Elder County"","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/box-elder-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Intermediate morph Swainson's Hawk in flight with mountains in the background, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/swainsons-hawk-flight-mia-mcpherson-9821.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-flight-mia-mcpherson-9821.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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