{"id":84602,"date":"2021-04-15T05:15:03","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T11:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=84602"},"modified":"2024-08-11T03:35:29","modified_gmt":"2024-08-11T08:35:29","slug":"dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-portrait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/04\/15\/dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-portrait\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Morph Swainson’s Hawk Portrait"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DarkDark morph Swainson’s Hawk portrait \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/500, ISO 250, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I have shared photos of this gorgeous dark morph Swainson’s Hawk before and since today is the four year anniversary of me finding it I thought I would share one more. I found the extremely dark Swainson’s Hawk next to a road in Box Elder County<\/span><\/a> in northern Utah on a chilly morning.<\/p>\n

The chocolatey colored hawk may have been stickier than normal because it was so cold that morning or because it had just arrived after its long migration. There is no way for me to know for certain why it was sticky I just know that I was over the moon because it was and I took frame after frame of this hawk.<\/p>\n

I relish being able to take portraits of my subjects without disturbing them and in the case of this dark morph Swainson’s Hawk it seemed entirely at ease with my presence in a mobile blind on the opposite side of the road. It scratched, preened, rested, roused, stretched and looked around while my shutter button got a work out. I took hundreds of photos of this striking raptor and I don’t regret a single one.<\/p>\n

It has been four years since I photographed this dark morph Swainson’s Hawk and I have yet to find another as dark as this bird was. I try not to play favorites with my subjects but this raptor certainly is one of my favorite Swainson’s Hawks that I have ever photographed.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen and photographed a few Swainson’s Hawks already this spring and I am keeping a look out for any dark morphs that might rival this individual’s striking beauty.<\/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 have shared photos of this gorgeous dark morph Swainson’s Hawk before and since today is the four year anniversary of me finding it I thought I would share one more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":132155,"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":[4004,4200,2497,4142,11419,4033,4169,2386,530,4046,11852,153,165,4034],"class_list":["post-84602","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-buteo-swainsoni","tag-buteos","tag-close-up","tag-dark-moprh","tag-hawk","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-migration","tag-portrait","tag-ranchlands","tag-raptors","tag-spring","tag-swainsons-hawk"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-portrait-mia-mcpherson-9571.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-m0y","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":84602,"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, 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":57059,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/04\/04\/staring-dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-close-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":84602,"position":1},"title":"Staring Dark Morph Swainson’s Hawk Close Up","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I've shared photos of this gorgeous dark morph Swainson's Hawk before and I've written about how I believed it was the darkest, dark morph I had ever seen and to date that still holds true.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Staring dark morph Swainson's Hawk, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-stare-mia-mcpherson-9588.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/swainsons-hawk-dark-morph-stare-mia-mcpherson-9588.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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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 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background","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-blues-mia-mcpherson-6681.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-blues-mia-mcpherson-6681.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-blues-mia-mcpherson-6681.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/swainsons-hawk-blues-mia-mcpherson-6681.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":84602,"position":4},"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, 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