Tag: swainson’s hawk
An Elk Calf In Distress
This past Sunday morning as I crested a very large hill (Monida Hill) at the west end of the Centennial Valley I noticed an elk calf below me and behind a fence. As soon as I stopped my pickup and the road noise quit I could tell it was in distress from the almost constant noise it was making. I don’t know what to call that sound so I’ll simply refer to it as a “call”. The sound was pitiful and almost heartbreaking to hear.
Swainson’s Hawk In Flight
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).
Dark Morph Swainson’s Hawk Taking Off From A Hilltop
On the mornings when we leave Montana’s Centennial Valley the 27 miles of dirt road until we hit pavement are always a little depressing because we’re so reluctant to leave that wonderful place. But occasionally our melancholy is assuaged and our spirits lifted by birds and other wildlife we see on the way out.
Red-tailed Hawk Attacked By A Swainson’s Hawk
The Centennial Valley had one more surprise in store as we left for home last Thursday morning. Photographing birds and other wildlife along the 27 mile long dirt road while I’m pulling the camping trailer is always awkward but the road is typically deserted that time of day and we’ve come up with something special more than once on the way out.
Two Recent Swainson’s Hawks
So far this year Swainson’s Hawk populations seem to be a little spotty. I’m finding them in normal concentrations in some areas but in others where there’s been good numbers of them in the past they seem to be rare or nonexistent. I’m not really alarmed about it, rather I suspect this is just one more example of localized bird numbers being difficult to predict.
Mating Swainson’s Hawks
A Potpourri Of Raptors
Swainson’s Hawks – Antipicating Their Arrival
Swainson’s Hawks have been absent from North America for many months. They winter in the pampas of South America and their breeding ground is the temperate zone of North America which means their annual migratory round trip is a long one – roughly 12,000 miles (among raptors only the Arctic Peregrine Falcon migrates further).
Reminiscing About My Last Montana Camping Trip
My plan this morning was to make a simple, single image post but with a snowstorm predicted for today I began to reminisce about my last Montana camping venture and decided to take a trip down memory lane with this post. I hoped to make one last visit to Montana before winter set in but I’ve now faced the grim reality that it just isn’t going to happen. These images were all taken in mid-September in and near the Centennial Valley.
Birds Befuddled By Stray Feathers
Anticipating Raptor Take-off
Swainson’s Hawk Optical Illusion
Each time I look at this image, at first the wing above the head appears to be the birds right wing on the far side of the body. But then a few seconds later my brain tells me that’s impossible because the lower wing is obviously the right wing and it’s impossible (or at least highly unlikely) for the hawk to have two right wings.
Dark Morph Swainson’s Hawk And More
Intermediate Morph Swainson’s Hawk
This is the third of my series of four posts on color morphs of the Swainson’s Hawk that I photographed on my last trip to Montana late last month. Todays bird is an intermediate morph.
The three morph categories are convenient to use but color variation of Swainson’s Hawks is almost continuous from darker to lighter individuals so the morph categories are somewhat arbitrary. I sometimes struggle with feeling confident about which category a particular bird belongs in.
An Elk Calf In Distress
This past Sunday morning as I crested a very large hill (Monida Hill) at the west end of the Centennial Valley I noticed an elk calf below me and behind a fence. As soon as I stopped my pickup and the road noise quit I could tell it was in distress from the almost constant noise it was making. I don’t know what to call that sound so I’ll simply refer to it as a “call”. The sound was pitiful and almost heartbreaking to hear.
Swainson’s Hawk In Flight
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).
Dark Morph Swainson’s Hawk Taking Off From A Hilltop
On the mornings when we leave Montana’s Centennial Valley the 27 miles of dirt road until we hit pavement are always a little depressing because we’re so reluctant to leave that wonderful place. But occasionally our melancholy is assuaged and our spirits lifted by birds and other wildlife we see on the way out.
Red-tailed Hawk Attacked By A Swainson’s Hawk
The Centennial Valley had one more surprise in store as we left for home last Thursday morning. Photographing birds and other wildlife along the 27 mile long dirt road while I’m pulling the camping trailer is always awkward but the road is typically deserted that time of day and we’ve come up with something special more than once on the way out.
Two Recent Swainson’s Hawks
So far this year Swainson’s Hawk populations seem to be a little spotty. I’m finding them in normal concentrations in some areas but in others where there’s been good numbers of them in the past they seem to be rare or nonexistent. I’m not really alarmed about it, rather I suspect this is just one more example of localized bird numbers being difficult to predict.
Mating Swainson’s Hawks
A Potpourri Of Raptors
Swainson’s Hawks – Antipicating Their Arrival
Swainson’s Hawks have been absent from North America for many months. They winter in the pampas of South America and their breeding ground is the temperate zone of North America which means their annual migratory round trip is a long one – roughly 12,000 miles (among raptors only the Arctic Peregrine Falcon migrates further).
Reminiscing About My Last Montana Camping Trip
My plan this morning was to make a simple, single image post but with a snowstorm predicted for today I began to reminisce about my last Montana camping venture and decided to take a trip down memory lane with this post. I hoped to make one last visit to Montana before winter set in but I’ve now faced the grim reality that it just isn’t going to happen. These images were all taken in mid-September in and near the Centennial Valley.
Birds Befuddled By Stray Feathers
Anticipating Raptor Take-off
Swainson’s Hawk Optical Illusion
Each time I look at this image, at first the wing above the head appears to be the birds right wing on the far side of the body. But then a few seconds later my brain tells me that’s impossible because the lower wing is obviously the right wing and it’s impossible (or at least highly unlikely) for the hawk to have two right wings.
Dark Morph Swainson’s Hawk And More
Intermediate Morph Swainson’s Hawk
This is the third of my series of four posts on color morphs of the Swainson’s Hawk that I photographed on my last trip to Montana late last month. Todays bird is an intermediate morph.
The three morph categories are convenient to use but color variation of Swainson’s Hawks is almost continuous from darker to lighter individuals so the morph categories are somewhat arbitrary. I sometimes struggle with feeling confident about which category a particular bird belongs in.