![\"swainson's](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/swainsons-hawk-5099b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWe returned home yesterday afternoon from our latest camping\/photo trip to Montana\/Idaho.\u00a0 It was another great outing – this time the weather mostly cooperated (including no smoke from forest fires to the west), we met some new friends and\u00a0once again explored some fabulous new country.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We also had some\u00a0memorable photographic\u00a0opportunities with a variety of birds and other wildlife.<\/p>\n
This is the time of year that Swainson’s Hawks usually begin to converge on the Centennial Valley to feast on grasshoppers and believe me the area produces grasshoppers in abundance – probably more of them than I’ve ever seen elsewhere (and I grew up on a Montana farm where grasshoppers were unfortunately one of our most successful crops).\u00a0 When we’re looking for birds to photograph we often cruise the dirt roads with the windows partially open and they’re constantly flying into my pickup.\u00a0 The impact from them hitting you, even at\u00a025 mph, really stings and I’m sure that I’ll find a herd of live\u00a0Montana grasshoppers\u00a0in my pickup later this morning, which is par for the course for this time of year.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4tc, not baited, set up\u00a0or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Early on Friday morning last week we found this light-morph Swainson’s perched on an old leaning post in the valley.\u00a0 The only chance I had for a shot that I really liked was in flight so I hoped it would eventually take off in a favorable direction.\u00a0 Often they leisurely turn around on their perch to take off away from you but this bird…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4tc, not baited, set up\u00a0or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n was more cooperative.\u00a0 I left the top of the post in the image because I don’t like to clone and because the obvious take-off posture of the hawk screams for a perch back there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4tc, not baited, set up\u00a0or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n I was able to get two shots in flight with interesting and contrasting wing positions and no body parts clipped.\u00a0 Sometimes I don’t get any so I’ll take those results.<\/p>\n Luck always plays a significant part in my photographic results on these excursions to Montana and this trip I had more than my share of the “bad” variety –\u00a0lost focus on birds in flight, an excessive number of birds flying away from me, poor lighting angles, unfortunate timing – the list goes on.\u00a0 But as I cull the thousands of images I took on this trip over the next few days I’m confident I’ll find some gems among\u00a0them and I’ll be sharing those images in the weeks to come.<\/p>\n It was a great trip but it’s also good to be home, especially because we were greeted by much-needed rain!\u00a0 .<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is the time of year that Swainson’s Hawks usually begin to converge on the Centennial Valley to feast on grasshoppers and believe me the area produces grasshoppers in abundance – probably more of them than I’ve ever seen elsewhere (and I grew up on a Montana farm where grasshoppers were unfortunately one of our most successful crops). <\/p>\n![\"swainson's](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/swainsons-hawk-5103-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"swainson's](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/swainsons-hawk-5106-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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