{"id":51088,"date":"2018-02-28T06:07:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-28T13:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=51088"},"modified":"2021-03-31T14:18:50","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T20:18:50","slug":"swainsons-hawks-heading-our-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/28\/swainsons-hawks-heading-our-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Swainson&#8217;s Hawks Heading Our Way"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-46540 size-full\" title=\"Light morph Swainson's Hawk close up with bluish background\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829.jpg\" alt=\"Light morph Swainson's Hawk close up with bluish background\" 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\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829-800x571.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Light morph Swainson&#8217;s Hawk close up with bluish background &#8211; Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been checking the range maps on eBird to see where there are <a href=\"https:\/\/ebird.org\/map\/swahaw?neg=true&amp;env.minX=&amp;env.minY=&amp;env.maxX=&amp;env.maxY=&amp;zh=false&amp;gp=false&amp;ev=Z&amp;mr=on&amp;bmo=2&amp;emo=2&amp;yr=cur\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Swainson&#8217;s Hawks being sighted in North America<\/span><\/a> because I am getting excited about their return to Utah. Surprisingly I can see some sightings in Florida plus North Carolina has a beautiful sub-adult bird. I know my birding friends in Florida must be excited about their Swainson&#8217;s Hawks! I am also seeing sightings being reported in Texas, California and Arizona. The Swainson&#8217;s Hawks in Arizona are the closest to Utah and I wonder if those birds will be heading my way before too long.<\/p>\n<p>It is fun to check out the range maps on eBird and I know that I can check on the migrations of not just the Swainson&#8217;s Hawks but other species of birds too.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-51087 size-full\" title=\"Swainson's Hawk giving me the stink eye\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/swainsons-hawk-bright-light-mia-mcpherson-7197.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/swainsons-hawk-bright-light-mia-mcpherson-7197.jpg\" alt=\"Swainson's Hawk giving me the stink eye\" width=\"640\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27640%27%20height%3D%27800%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20640%20800%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27640%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\/2018\/02\/swainsons-hawk-bright-light-mia-mcpherson-7197-200x250.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/swainsons-hawk-bright-light-mia-mcpherson-7197-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/swainsons-hawk-bright-light-mia-mcpherson-7197-400x500.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/swainsons-hawk-bright-light-mia-mcpherson-7197-600x750.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/swainsons-hawk-bright-light-mia-mcpherson-7197.jpg 640w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Swainson&#8217;s Hawk giving me the stink eye &#8211; Nikon D500, f9, 1\/640, ISO 400, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m fortunate that I can spend time with Swainson&#8217;s Hawks here in Utah and in Idaho and Montana on my trips up there. I always enjoy observing and photographing them while they are in North America and I know it would thrill me to see them in the winter in South America too, maybe I need to put that on my bucket list. Swainson\u2019s Hawks may migrate as far as 14,000 miles.<\/p>\n<p>These two Swainson&#8217;s Hawk photos were taken in May of last year up in northern Utah from inside a vehicle being used as a mobile blind and both were photographed from the side of a road where they had become accustomed to traffic going by so they weren&#8217;t skittish at all. You can bet though if I had opened the door top get out to photograph the hawks they would have taken off immediately. I liked the bluish background in the first photo which is actually shade on distant mountains and I chuckle when I view the second image because it reminds me of the stink eye I used to get from my youngest son when he was ticked off at me or was expressing disbelief.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m really looking forward to seeing and photographing Swainson&#8217;s Hawks this year and I will be able to in just a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>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>These two Swainson&#8217;s Hawk photos were taken in May of last year up in northern Utah from inside a vehicle being used as a mobile blind and both were photographed from the side of a road where they had become accustomed to traffic going by so they weren&#8217;t skittish at all. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46540,"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":[4004,2663,4200,898,4033,4169,2386,2670,4104,153,5670,4034],"class_list":["post-51088","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-fence-post","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-light-morph","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-stink-eye","tag-swainsons-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-blues-mia-mcpherson-6829.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-di0","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":51088,"position":0},"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":46428,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/23\/photographing-swainsons-hawks-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":51088,"position":1},"title":"Photographing Swainson&#8217;s Hawks in Northern Utah","author":"Mia 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 &quot;Birds&quot;","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, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-portrait-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4258.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/swainsons-hawk-portrait-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-4258.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51915,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/05\/01\/sub-adult-dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":51088,"position":2},"title":"Sub-adult Dark Morph Swainson&#8217;s Hawk Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 1, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"All of the Swainson's I photographed the first day of May last year were adults except for what I believe was a sub-adult dark morph Swainson's Hawk and I thought that hawk was a real beauty.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rousing sub-adult dark morph Swainson's Hawk, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-7258.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-7258.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-7258.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-dark-morph-mia-mcpherson-7258.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51714,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/04\/18\/dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-possibly-the-darkest-i-have-ever-seen\/","url_meta":{"origin":51088,"position":3},"title":"Dark Morph Swainson&#8217;s Hawk &#8211; Possibly The Darkest I Have Ever Seen","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 18, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Just about one year ago I was thrilled to photograph a very cooperative dark morph Swainson's Hawk that is possibly the darkest, dark morph I have ever seen.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Very dark Swainson's 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":46272,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/16\/cooperative-dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-up-close\/","url_meta":{"origin":51088,"position":4},"title":"Cooperative Dark Morph Swainson&#8217;s Hawk Up Close","author":"Mia 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 &quot;Box Elder County&quot;","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 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/swainsons-hawk-close-up-mia-mcpherson-9737.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":51088,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51088","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=51088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}