Swainson’s Hawk Up Close And In Flight

This juvenile Swainson’s Hawk had no fear.  I believe it thought of vehicles (and their contents) as no more threatening than the boulders or trees that are common in this area of the Centennial Valley.

 

swainson's hawk 3657 ron dudley1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon 100-400 @ 160mm, not baited, set up or called in

The bird would fly from fencepost to fencepost right next to the dirt road, seemingly just for the fun of it and there were times when it flew even closer to me rather than further away.  Its only concern seemed to be the ubiquitous grasshoppers that it would occasionally go after near the fence line but it didn’t even do that very often.  Here the hawk is flying from one post to another one that is significantly closer to me than the post it just left.  Sometimes vehicles would slowly pass between me and the perched bird (within perhaps 15′ of the hawk) and it wouldn’t even flinch.

I remember thinking that I was glad that this was a remote wildlife refuge (Red Rock Lakes NWR) where it was unlikely that any harm would come to the bird before it learned a healthy respect and even fear of anything associated with man.  The dirt road in this area is rough and vehicles invariably travel it slowly but that’s not the case with most roads.  Swainson’s Hawks sometimes deliberately land on roads to hunt grasshoppers drawn to the road by the heat of the pavement and that puts them in harm’s way from speeding vehicles.

I hope this young bird wised up a little before it headed south to spend the winter in Argentina.

Ron

Note #1:  The composition of this image (taken two months ago) is less than ideal but I had no more room in the frame to the right.

Note #2:  I still have no images to share taken with the new Canon 7D Mark ll.  The camera spent all day yesterday in the shop being calibrated to my lens and teleconverter.  Hopefully, soon…

19 Comments

  1. Sensational flight shot Ron!
    Charlotte

  2. LOVE the curl to those wing tips. And envy birds, so much, for their ability to fly.

  3. I think that’s a great shot! He looks totally determined!!!

  4. Lovely shot. And I fear that remote areas are becoming few and far between.

    • “I fear that remote areas are becoming few and far between.”

      That’s for sure, Tana. I often think about how different it is these days from when I was a young man – finding remote areas is so very much more difficult than it used to be. I miss the old days. A lot…

  5. What a gorgeous shot. I do hope that wisdom sets in though.

  6. Yes, sadly we rehabilitators get in a fair number of raptors that have been hit by cars. They do tend to hunt by the side of roads – I’m sure we’ve all seen plenty of Red-tails sitting on power lines. They are drawn to, among other things, the rodents who eat food thrown out by passengers. Owls especially tend to get hit, hunting prey using the warmth of the roads. Beautiful photo!

  7. Perhaps this Swaison’s had heard about your blog and wanted to be sure you got a close-up. Preferred composition or no, this is a beautiful shot. And I, too, hope it’s wised up about the dangers of the road.

  8. Wow! That is a gorgeous shot!

  9. Beautiful! shot Ron. Yes, I know you would have preferred better composition, less shadow – but you got the eye!! I like the shot, thanks for sharing!

    • “I know you would have preferred better composition”

      That’s for sure, Dick. The shadows don’t bother me much but I sure wish I had more room to the right. Believe it or not, at only 160mm this bird still filled much of the frame and I guess I should just consider myself lucky that I didn’t clip anything.

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