{"id":8552,"date":"2013-06-09T05:56:58","date_gmt":"2013-06-09T11:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=8552"},"modified":"2025-03-05T03:59:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T09:59:34","slug":"swainsons-hawks-in-montana-and-the-chase-is-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/06\/09\/swainsons-hawks-in-montana-and-the-chase-is-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Swainson’s Hawks In Montana – And The Chase Is On"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swainson’s Hawks<\/h2>\n

I’ve just returned from spending six wonderful days photographing in southwestern Montana. The weather was lovely, the scenery spectacular, and the birds; as usual, were awesome including these two Swainson’s Hawks.<\/p>\n

\"Swainson\u2019sSwainson’s Hawk\u00a0sub-adult – Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited <\/span><\/p>\n

On the last evening I spotted two Swainson’s Hawks on the way back to the campsite. The sub-adult Swainson’s Hawk was chasing the adult while at the same time some people in a small pickup seemed to be chasing me to see what I was looking at.<\/p>\n

Using a vehicle as a mobile blind works great but having two vehicles in close proximity did make the hawks more skittish.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0sub-adult Swainson’s is on its way to\u00a0getting its adult plumage but it isn’t quite there yet. Who knows, I may have photographed this bird\u00a0on another trip to Montana\u00a0after it fledged.<\/p>\n

\"Sub-adultSub-adult\u00a0Swainson’s Hawk lifting off\u00a0– Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The people or person in the small pickup were making it difficult to photograph the Swainson’s Hawks and they were making both of the hawks a bit nervous.<\/p>\n

When the sub-adult bird had enough of them it took off and flew to the south. I wish I would have had a bit more of a head turn towards me as the young hawk lifted off.<\/p>\n

\"PerchedPerched adult Swainson’s Hawk\u00a0– Nikon D300, f6.3, 1\/800, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The adult Swainson’s Hawk perched on a post after the people in the pickup left and relaxed and it lifted one foot. It may have spent the night perched there but in the distance I could see a huge truck rumbling towards me and I knew that the hawk would take off when it got closer so I took as many close up portraits of the bird before the truck approached.<\/p>\n

\"AdultSwainson’s Hawk with blood from its meal on its belly\u00a0– Nikon D300, f8, 1\/500, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

This adult Swainson’s Hawk still has some blood on its belly from its last meal. Unfortunately when the hawk lifted off from its perch I wasn’t able to maintain focus but I am still very pleased with the portrait images I was able to create.<\/p>\n

In the days or weeks to come I will be posting more images from my six day journey to Beaverhead County<\/span><\/a>, Montana and beyond. As usual I was exhausted but elated after spending time in the wilds of Montana!<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Swainson’s Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve just returned from spending six wonderful days photographing in western Montana, the weather was lovely, the scenery spectacular and the birds; as usual, were awesome including these two Swainson’s Hawks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1513,27,12,206],"tags":[4004,4021,4200,4169,2237,4282,4104,4063,2239,4034,102],"class_list":["post-8552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beaverhead-county-montana","category-avian","category-montana","category-swainson-hawks","tag-adult","tag-bird-photography","tag-buteo-swainsoni","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-montana","tag-lift-off","tag-perched","tag-raptor","tag-sub-adult","tag-swainsons-hawk","tag-wildlife"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/swainson-hawk-second-year-mia-mcpherson-7341.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-2dW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":105569,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/08\/29\/dark-morph-swainsons-hawk-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":8552,"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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2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Red-tailed Hawks have the most variable plumages of North American hawks but Swainson's Hawks are also pretty variable, there are light morphs, intermediate morphs and dark morphs.","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 intermediate morph","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/swainsons-hawk-adult-flying-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/swainsons-hawk-adult-flying-mia-mcpherson-6956.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/montana\/beaverhead-county-montana\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sub-adult 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\/2015\/04\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-mia-mcpherson-7348.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-mia-mcpherson-7348.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-mia-mcpherson-7348.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/swainsons-hawk-sub-adult-mia-mcpherson-7348.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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Sometimes I wish I could \"speak\" raptor so I could know what they are saying.","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":"Calling adult Swainson's Hawk","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/swainsons-hawk-adult-calling-mia-mcpherson-3534.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/swainsons-hawk-adult-calling-mia-mcpherson-3534.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/swainsons-hawk-adult-calling-mia-mcpherson-3534.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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