Swainson’s Hawk In A Colorful, Rustic Setting

Yesterday morning (early, very early) we headed north looking for raptors and even ended up in Idaho for a while!  We found good numbers of Ferruginous and Red-tailed Hawks, a few American Kestrels and Turkey Vultures and one Prairie Falcon.  But this juvenile Swainson’s Hawk was our most cooperative subject, partly because it chose such a colorful setting.

 

swainson's hawk 0258 ron dudley

 1/1000, f/10, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

It was perched on an old, rustic fence post with a mixture of golden fall colors and third crop alfalfa and other green crops in the lower background with layers of blue and white up top.  I enjoy the colors and the relaxed posture of the hawk (but that changed very quickly, as you will see).

I was photographing this bird alongside a rural road with intermittent traffic.  The occasional car or pickup passing by at relatively high speeds didn’t faze the hawk in the least so I was set up for perched shots, not expecting the hawk to take off.  In fact for this image I’d switched to f/10 to try to get as much of the angled fence as sharp as possible, thus reducing my shutter speed.

When I heard yet another vehicle approaching fast from behind (I was off the road in the barrow pit) I assumed it wouldn’t disturb the bird.

I was wrong…

 

swainson's hawk 0264 ron dudley

  1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

The vehicle turned out to be a huge, noisy tractor-trailer and the Swainson’s didn’t like it a bit.  Thankfully I’d already switched back to f/7.1 for more shutter speed but I was shooting vertically to get more of the fence and post in the frame so I clipped or cut off the wings in most of the take-off shots.  Here I barely avoided clipping the wing but the hawk is too tight in the frame at left.

I suspect that it may look like I’ve increased the saturation on these images but I haven’t (all I did was crop and sharpen).  The light was early and warm and the colors are natural.

Ron

22 Comments

  1. Looks like he/she is looking right at you and now me, Ron.
    Spectacular. Thanks

  2. What a bird. And the contrast between its beauty and the ugliness of the barbed wire is a stunning symbol of our relationship with nature. Not always, but too often. Far too often.
    Climbing down from my soap-box and slinking into my tree hugging corner now.

  3. I’m with Patty on the barbed wire … I would die a happy woman if it could be banned from this earth! It does HORRID things to birds and they unfortunately get tangled in it with some regularity, especially owls.

    • Louise, I’ll agree that barbed wire has caused a lot of misery over the years (and I’ve seen some of that misery) but I don’t think my reaction to it in a photograph is as strongly negative as it is in others. A complicated subject, though…

  4. I love these photos, especially the second one. The whole expression of the bird in that one is priceless. We’ve been seeing quite a few Swainson’s around here, as well as in North Dakota this summer. We might have seen a juvenile the other day, but I’m not sure. The setting for these shots is a bit rusty as well as rustic… 🙂

  5. That is some NASTY looking barbed wire…HATE the stuff! Too many horrible stories…including a beautiful, sweet Morgan it did one terrible, nightmarish a job on. The harsh, starkcontrast between the natural, softness of the bird and the manmade, “control and fight nature and all other beings” cruelty of the hard, sharp wire isn’t lost on me….how I wish it was!

  6. What wonderful shots! Thanks so much for sharing them Ron!

  7. Always a pleasure to view your spectacular photography! I look forward to your post every day.

  8. Wonderful pose! Almost got a a “wing clip” thoough..bet you sweated that one out…Horrors!

  9. Another beautiful image, Ron! This fellow is a juvenile too! Too bad about the truck!

  10. Hi Ron, Beautiful pictures, beautiful bird! I especially like the take-off. One of my all-time favorites! Thanks!
    Cheers,
    Dick

  11. It’s a great pose though and the warm light and background really add to it. Bad luck about the timing of the noisy vehicle.

Comments are closed