{"id":82925,"date":"2021-03-31T05:09:19","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T11:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=82925"},"modified":"2021-03-31T05:09:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T11:09:19","slug":"swainsons-hawk-on-a-gnarly-fence-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/31\/swainsons-hawk-on-a-gnarly-fence-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Swainson’s Hawk On A Gnarly Fence Post"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Swainson'sSwainson’s Hawk on a gnarly fence post \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I haven’t found my first of season Swainson’s Hawk yet but I expect that to change any day now as spring migration is almost in full swing. The last time I was out in the field I found a few lingering Rough-legged Hawks that will soon be heading north to breed. Swainson’s Hawks will fill the niches in the field that the Rough-legged Hawks leave behind.<\/p>\n

Last year I didn’t see nearly as many Swainson’s Hawks as I have in previous years and I worked hard to locate the ones I did find. I may need to scout out new locations to find more of these handsome hawks.<\/p>\n

When I photographed this light morph Swainson’s Hawk four springs ago I liked the look the hawk was giving me, the distant, shaded mountains in the background, and the soft morning light. I also enjoyed the texture of the gnarly, old fence post the hawk was perched on. It was almost as if the Swainson’s Hawk was giving me the old stink eye.<\/p>\n

Maybe I will spot my first of year Swainson’s Hawk today or perhaps it will be a week or two before I find one. When I find it I know I am going to be excited. It will be wonderful to see them 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":"

I haven’t found my first of season Swainson’s Hawk yet but I expect that to change any day now as spring migration is almost in full swing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[4004,2663,4200,2497,6692,898,6907,4033,4169,2386,2670,153,165,4034],"class_list":["post-82925","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-buteos","tag-early-morning-light","tag-fence-post","tag-gnarly","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-light-morph","tag-raptors","tag-spring","tag-swainsons-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/swainsons-hawk-on-old-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-7130.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-lzv","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":82925,"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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2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I am enjoying my time in the Centennial Valley especially when I can spend time photographing raptors like this adult light morph Swainson's Hawk.","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":"Adult Swainson's Hawk in flight over Centennial Valley","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/swainsons-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-4620.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/swainsons-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-4620.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/swainsons-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-4620.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/swainsons-hawk-adult-mia-mcpherson-4620.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":82925,"position":2},"title":"Sub-adult Dark Morph Swainson’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 "Birds"","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":65878,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/02\/29\/rough-legged-hawks-will-be-leaving-swainsons-hawks-will-arrive-soon\/","url_meta":{"origin":82925,"position":3},"title":"Rough-legged Hawks Will Be Leaving – Swainson’s Hawks Will Arrive Soon","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"It is almost time for me to see a seasonal switch of raptors here in northern Utah because the Rough-legged Hawks will leaving and the Swainson's will arrive soon.","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":"Rough-legged Hawk resting on a sign, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-sign-mia-mcpherson-2914.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/rough-legged-hawk-sign-mia-mcpherson-2914.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":39717,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/05\/25\/warning-swainsons-hawks-ahead\/","url_meta":{"origin":82925,"position":5},"title":"Warning – Swainson’s Hawks Ahead","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"One thing I know for certain is that when the weather clears I know I am going to head back up there. And I will probably think about the title of this post... Warning - Swainson's Hawks Ahead.","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 on Warning Sign","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/swainsons-hawk-warning-sign-mia-mcpherson-3701.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/swainsons-hawk-warning-sign-mia-mcpherson-3701.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/swainsons-hawk-warning-sign-mia-mcpherson-3701.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/swainsons-hawk-warning-sign-mia-mcpherson-3701.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\/82925","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=82925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}