Three days ago I felt fortunate to come across a mated pair of Swainson’s Hawks in Beaverhead County, Montana, the male was an intermediate morph and the female was a light morph.
I am back from my photo journey to eastern Idaho and southern Montana and I have 4,648 images to go through, cull, and select the best of them. When I am on trips like this one I tend to take tons of images but that also means lots of work when I get back.
The male is shown in the photo above and has more rufous on his chest than the female does.
And the female is shown in this image. Both hawks perched for a bit on fence posts along the side of the dirt road with a hillside in the background that is greening up.
Before the two images above were created the pair of Swainson’s Hawks mated in the distance and I was able to get a few images where I could see and get light their eyes but I was a long way from the hawks. I wish I had been a bit closer and that I had been on the other side of the birds for better light but I was happy to get images of them copulating because bird behavior fascinates me.
I had a great trip.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Swainson’s Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.
Wonderful images. Welcome back home Mia. I am also fascinated with bird behavior.
Great shots, Thanks! – Brian
Wow.
So glad that the trip improved. Dramatically.
Mia, welcome home!
Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. Fantastic images of these beautiful raptors! Nice timing to capture some rarely seen behavior, too.
Good luck with the culling process! Wish you had some of this strong coffee this morning to help get you started.
Beautiful, crisp images of two beautiful birds…great detailoo
Mia,
Thank you for sharing your terrific images of these gorgeous raptors. Wonderful detail! Glen