{"id":7813,"date":"2013-03-10T05:18:04","date_gmt":"2013-03-10T12:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=7813"},"modified":"2021-03-31T17:17:03","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T23:17:03","slug":"juvenile-swainsons-hawk-expelling-a-pellet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/03\/10\/juvenile-swainsons-hawk-expelling-a-pellet\/","title":{"rendered":"Juvenile Swainson’s Hawk expelling a pellet"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JuvenileJuvenile Swainson’s Hawk in flight<\/span><\/p>\n

Last summer I was able to see and photograph a juvenile Swainson’s Hawk expelling a pellet in Beaverhead County<\/span><\/a>, Montana. The young hawk, it’s sibling and one of the adults were in the area when this hawk flew onto a fence post close to the road.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Swainson’s Hawk<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the things I noticed first was how the back of the neck of the immature Swainson’s Hawk seemed enlarged, that is a pretty big bump.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Swainson’s Hawk attempting to expel a pellet<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the juvenile hawk bent over and repeatedly opened its bill, it was fairly obvious that the hawk was struggling. The lump seemed to move slightly forward with each attempt.<\/p>\n

\"JuvenileJuvenile Swainson’s Hawk expelling a pellet<\/span><\/p>\n

After several minutes the hawk expelled two rather large pellets, this frame shows the first pellet as it exits the hawk’s bill.<\/p>\n

\"WingWing lift after expelling pellet<\/span><\/p>\n

When the pellet expulsion was completed the juvenile Swainson’s lifted its wings, shook itself and flew off.<\/p>\n

\"PelletPellet that the juvie Swainson’s Hawk expelled<\/span><\/p>\n

This is one of the pellets the hawk expelled, it consists of bones, fur and other undigested materials. Some folks might think this is gross, I see it as being as natural as this juvenile Swainson’s Hawk taking flight.<\/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 summer I was able to see and photograph a juvenile Swainson’s Hawk expelling a pellet in Beaverhead County, Montana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7807,"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":[4200,4942,4122,4067,4071,392,1075,2160,4034,4193],"class_list":["post-7813","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-buteo-swainsoni","tag-expelling","tag-flying","tag-immature","tag-juvenile","tag-pellet","tag-pellet-expulsion","tag-regurgitating-pellet","tag-swainsons-hawk","tag-young"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-flight-mia-mcpherson-2311.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-221","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46428,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/23\/photographing-swainsons-hawks-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":7813,"position":0},"title":"Photographing 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close and approachable but I didn't always have great light.","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":"Head on stare from a light morph juvenile Swainson\u2019s Hawk, Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Beaverhead County, Montana","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-head-on-mia-mcpherson-4873.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-head-on-mia-mcpherson-4873.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/swainsons-hawk-juvenile-head-on-mia-mcpherson-4873.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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