This is the third of my series of four posts on color morphs of the Swainson’s Hawk that I photographed on my last trip to Montana late last month. Todays bird is an intermediate morph.
The three morph categories are convenient to use but color variation of Swainson’s Hawks is almost continuous from darker to lighter individuals so the morph categories are somewhat arbitrary. I sometimes struggle with feeling confident about which category a particular bird belongs in.
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Overall, more than 90% of Swainson’s Hawks are light morphs (though in some areas the darker morphs are significantly more common than 10%) so I was happy to find this darker bird on a fence post in Beaverhead County. Notice that the solid dark color of the breast is more mottled and rufous on the belly.
As per my usual strategy in cases like this I took a few shots with my teleconverter attached and then removed it for possible take-off.
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, not baited, set up or called in
I expected the hawk to take off to my left but it fooled me and went to my right so I was lucky to get it in frame.
Some of my readers know much more about these morph variations than I do so any additions or corrections on this series would be welcomed.
Ron
The normal range of the Swainson’s does not include Florida so I only see these birds on trips to the southwest U.S. They are gorgeous birds and your flight shot beautifully illustrates their stunning markings. I really like the pose and BG in the first shot too.
Simply breathtaking Ron!