{"id":6592,"date":"2012-11-17T06:11:08","date_gmt":"2012-11-17T13:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=6592"},"modified":"2026-02-02T09:14:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:14:06","slug":"swainsons-hawk-in-the-centennial-valley-of-montana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/11\/17\/swainsons-hawk-in-the-centennial-valley-of-montana\/","title":{"rendered":"Swainson’s Hawk in the Centennial Valley of Montana"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AdultAdult Swainson’s Hawk calling – Nikon D300, f8, 1\/1250, ISO 250, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

Summer can be very busy for me because of camping trips to find and photograph birds and there are periods during that time where I don’t get back to edit images taken during the summer season until later. While August is traditionally the slowest month for birds in Utah that isn’t the case in the Centennial Valley of Montana which can be very birdy.<\/p>\n

I photographed the calling adult Swainson’s Hawk in August in the Centennial Valley of Montana, it was a very cooperative hawk that stayed perched and it kept calling.<\/p>\n

\"Swainson'sSwainson’s Hawk in the Centennial Valley of Montana – Nikon D300, f9, 1\/320, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

This adult Swainson’s had two juveniles nearby that were perched on the conifer tree that their natal nest was in and the sun was getting close to setting. Sometimes I wish I could “speak” raptor so I could know what they are saying.<\/p>\n

\"CallingCalling adult Swainson’s Hawk – Nikon D300, f9, 1\/320, ISO 320, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or called in<\/span><\/p>\n

The Swainson’s Hawks have already made their long migration south, I wonder if next summer I will see this hawk and its young in the gorgeous setting of the Centennial Valley of Montana 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":"

This adult Swainson’s had two juveniles nearby that were perched on the conifer tree that their natal nest was in and the sun was getting close to setting. Sometimes I wish I could “speak” raptor so I could know what they are saying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11802,"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":[1513,27,223,12,608,206],"tags":[4004,4021,4083,2663,4200,4072,898,4033,4169,2237,4104,153,2315,4034,5434],"class_list":["post-6592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-centennial-valley","category-montana","category-red-rock-lakes-national-wildlife-refuge","category-swainson-hawks","tag-adult","tag-bird-photography","tag-birding","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-calling","tag-fence-post","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-montana","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-summer-3","tag-swainsons-hawk","tag-valley"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/swainsons-hawk-adult-calling-mia-mcpherson-3534.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-1Ik","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21472,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2015\/04\/08\/return-of-the-swainsons-hawks\/","url_meta":{"origin":6592,"position":0},"title":"Return 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