Mating Swainson’s Hawks – When Attempted Sex Goes Wrong

I always enjoy intimate looks at birds of prey but this one was over the top.

  • Note: I’ve posted other images of these hawks mating but this one is new to my blog.

 

swainsons-hawk-7825-ron-dudley1/640, f/11, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in

I witnessed this unexpected behavior this past May near the Promontory Mountains of northern Utah. I’d been photographing the female on this rocky perch from a fairly close distance when the male suddenly swooped in and filled my viewfinder with his open wings as he landed on her back. They struggled for quite a while to accomplish the mating but his landing was off-center and when his left foot eventually slipped off her back (as it’s doing here) he gave up and flew off without consummating the act (the “cloacal kiss” was never accomplished).

Both birds are light morphs but I believe the female to be a young bird so perhaps her inexperience contributed to the failure. I felt badly for them but I’ll also admit that their extended mating struggles gave me many opportunities for interesting images that I’m very grateful for.

Ron

PS – This post is an abbreviated one and that trend may continue for a while because I’m in a string of bad luck. The latest catastrophe was a refrigerator that gave up the ghost yesterday afternoon, as evidenced by water all over the kitchen floor, melting ice and thawing frozen foods. Can you imagine shopping for a new refrigerator on Black Friday? Harakiri time! That was my first experience shopping on Black Friday and if at all possible it will definitely be my last!

So until my new fridge is delivered on Tuesday I’m “camping” in my own home with some of the food in an ice cooler and some of it in my camping trailer fridge (very small) and another tiny freezer.

And the forecast is for clouds and snow until the middle of next week so I’ll probably be digging into my photo archives for material for blog posts for a few days. Who knows, I may even take a day or two off…

 

37 Comments

  1. From a Texas point of view, if it’s cold enough to snow I’d have put the fridge outside secured with a bungee strap and not worried about it until at least Tuesday! My first comment here so will add I absolutely love your images and comments!

  2. Ok Ron, now it is time for some good luck to start coming your way. After the tree limb and now the refrigerator. They say, “when it rains it pours”… at least that the way I experience bad luck events. Hoping your streak is over and this next week you are able to enjoy the winter weather in comfort.

  3. Great catch for you, maybe not for him. 😏
    Charlotte

  4. That is the pits Ron. I went shopping on Black Friday for my Dad (when he was alive). Like you, never again. I’m not much of a crowd person to begin with, then add people taking items out of my hands. Reaching over my head. No, nada! Nothing like camping out though hehe.
    p.s. The Red Tails are beautiful birds.

  5. For a number of years we had Christmas disasters. Our fridge breaking down on Christmas Eve was one of them – and remember our Christmas is HOT. And our shops shut for days.
    I hope you are over the madness – and feel for you having to shop on Black Friday. And some people do it for fun!!!

  6. My experience last year was these things tend to run in streaks. Either that or everything we own is old, including us. Last year something was always breaking including me, and of course over a holiday or weekend. I tried to think of creative ways to tell my husband some major appliance or sewer or roof or furnace or spouse was broken. He doesn’t take these things well, repeated sticker shock creates PTSD. He started to get a glazed look and before I said anything he would say “Now what?… I don’t want to know, how much will it cost?” I left out the explicates.

    Hope things improve, I look forward to archival images.

    • Well, your streak has found a new home at my house, April. Just this morning Mia noticed that the registration on my pickup has been expired for two months. I couldn’t believe it! I never did get notification in the mail like I usually do so I just didn’t think about it. I quickly ran down and took care of it. The inspection guy told me that if it’s been expired for three months they can impound your vehicle.

  7. Yikes! I have been dreading the demise of my 19 year old fridge so I have been shopping for one on-line. Looks like I could get a new GE or Samsung side-by-side from Lowe’s for $900 to $1000 Black Friday pricing until the end of the month. Perhaps you pay more because of your location? I’m in Phoenix and there is a lot of competition among retailers. My dilemma is do I wait until mine dies or should I buy a new one now while the prices are low? From what I’ve heard the new ones don’t last as long as ours.

    Thanks for all your fabulous photos!

    • Pat, In hindsight I’d recommend getting your new one now so you can plan for it and not lose any food.

      I could have bought a side-by-side almost identical to my old one for about $1400 but I chose a more upscale and significantly larger model.

      • For what its worth I hate my old side by side, I can’t get a pizza or turkey or gallon of ice cream to fit. I had to buy a separate freezer and put it in the garage.

  8. Well heck. I went shopping for the first time on Thursday when Walmart opened up at 6pm. Wanted to get a small freezer. My fridge won’t hold ice cream very well, so I have been thinking the same thing, may need a new one some day. They are expensive and not built the same. Anyway I had never shopped the Black Friday, as I worked at KMart as a clerk for 5 years! Loved the picture, I watch the Eagle Cams and see mother nature and the egg laying and hatching and raising of the family. Always fun, but many times very heartbreaking.

    • “I had never shopped the Black Friday, as I worked at KMart as a clerk for 5 years”

      Now that would cure most anyone from wanting to shop on Black Friday!

  9. I am so sorry your fridge died, even if it was that old. (We have a freezer in our garage that is jammed full of food and that is about the same age – it was already old when I got here 8 years ago, and I’ve been waiting for something to happen with it – fortunately, so far, nothing has.) Abbreviated posts are as welcome as regular ones, and days off are also okay. I’m glad you survived shopping on Black Friday, at least mostly intact. That’s something I also avoid like the plague.

  10. The photo is great; your fridge, not so much. Have you checked Craigslist or a used appliance store? We had to replace our fridge last year, and I still resent the amount of money we had to spend. Our area is so sparsely-populated that I couldn’t find anything used for sale nearby; otherwise, I’d have bought used.

    • Catherine, I didn’t have TIME to shop carefully like I usually do. I didn’t notice the problem until the middle of the afternoon and I needed a replacement as soon as I could possibly get one. And I was actually lucky to get a delivery date as early as Tuesday – had to get a special “manager’s ok” for that to be done. Otherwise it would have been at least a day later. As you can imagine, deliveries are all booked up after the BF sales.

  11. I am sure we will enjoy your archives. Our fridge is getting up there in years so I dread the day it goes, hope it is at a more convenient time, if there is such a thing.

  12. Great picture!
    $2200, you got to be kidding! WOW, I’m depressed with just thinking of having to come up with that much for a refrigerator, let alone going shopping on Black Friday!
    I wish you the best!

  13. The cost of everything is out of sight! I don’t envy you…the timing could hardly be worse…a horrible expense any time, even worse now!

    • The timing was even worse than I’ve revealed here, Patty. I have to remind myself that the old fridge was over 25 years old and I certainly got my money’s worth out of it. They don’t make them like that anymore…

  14. The birds frustration (pardon the anthropomorphism) makes me think of the angst of shopping on BLFR.
    Sorry for the 3 of you. Diana

  15. . Run away with your camera and take pictures . Birds in snow would be pretty!!! Come home after Thanksgiving madness is over. It’s the hormones in the turkey!!!!!

  16. Hopefully, you at least got a better deal on your new fridge because of the BF sales than these poor hawks got on their sexscapades. 😉

    Archives, “reruns” of vintage posts, well-deserved days off for you — it’s all good!

    • “Archives, “reruns” of vintage posts, well-deserved days off for you — it’s all good!”

      I like the way you said that, Marty.

      Somehow $2200 (including sales tax and an extended warranty) just doesn’t sound to me like a “better deal” for what is essentially a hollow metal box… 🙂

      • Oof! For that price, it should go grocery shopping and make sandwiches for you and Mia! As my mom used to say, “Use it in good health.”

  17. GEEZ!!!! Which I’m sure isn’t at all what you had to say about it! 🙁 I also can’t imagine shopping on Black Fri. I also love the time it takes to get even a hot water heater locally. Great shot of the hawks – archives are fine with me! 🙂

  18. Sorry to hear about your refridge! Bad Timing!

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