Swainson’s Hawks Of Montana’s Centennial Valley

On my trip to Montana’s Centennial Valley last month Swainson’s Hawks were very abundant.  I found two families of them that would reliably hunt close to a road and since they had become habituated to the traffic they were easier for me to approach as long as I stayed in my pickup truck.

 

 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

This was one of two juveniles along the river at the west end of the valley.  Both birds, along with their parents, would repeatedly perch on posts and poles close to my pickup.  But it was very difficult to get an acceptable light angle at this location in the morning so I include only this one shot of those birds.

 

 

  1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

I had more luck with another family (two juvies and one parent) at the east end of the valley.  The light angle was better and I also preferred the fence posts in this area – they were older and had more character.

 

 

  1/500, f/11, ISO 500, 100-400 @ 400mm

Occasionally I was able to get both juveniles in the same shot but of course that situation often brings with it a depth of field problem so I switched to the 100-400 zoom and set my aperture at f/11 and focused on the post between the two birds.  It seemed to work pretty well.

 

 

  1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

 I loved the “butterscotch” colors on these two juveniles – particularly this one.

 

 

  1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4

The two juveniles were fearless and wouldn’t even fly off when vehicles went by within a few feet of them but the parent bird didn’t much like their bravado and would occasionally circle the juvies while voicing his/her concern.

 

 

  1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4

And sometimes the parent would do the same thing from a nearby perch.  But mostly it just sat there and watched the youngsters very carefully.

 

 

  1/1250, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4

I’d been photographing these birds, on and off, for several days and hadn’t even noticed the nest in a nearby conifer until both juveniles landed there and I scoped them through my lens.  It’s disconcerting to realize just how many details in my surroundings I miss when I’m concentrating on birds through my lens…

 

 

  1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

One final close-up look at the adult.  This bird landed so close to me that I had to go to go vertical with my gear.  I love it when that happens, especially with a raptor (though shooting vertical from a vehicle with a big lens presents its own problems).

This situation was a perfect example of the value of using a vehicle as a mobile blind.  Had I exited my vehicle (which I never once did, nor did I approach the nest) it would have disturbed these hawks and they’d have flown off.   This method often takes some patience (I spent many hours with these birds) but I think it was worth it.

Ron