Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Birbs of Saskatchetoon - Swainson's Hawk

 One week ago, on Wednesday, 20 July 2022, I was out for another ride up to the Northeast Swale (via the Chief Mistawasis Bridge), and stopped at the little wetland east of the bridge where I have spotted SO MANY of the birds I've seen this year. I was taking some pictures of American Coot babies when I was startled by a loud SCREECH Just above me - looking up I spotted a hawk on the power pole just above me! I'm not sure if it had just flown up or I had just not noticed it before? 

Swainson's Hawk in the Birbs of Saskatchetoon 2022 Sketchbook - Volume Two! 

When I went to take a picture it flew off. 

It was a really windy day.

So it didn't get very far with flying. 

And, as it stayed rather still in the air, I actually got a few decent shots of it flying!

I think it got bored or tired of trying to make any sort of headway into that wind, so it landed on the very next pole and I was able to walk over and click a few more pictures! 

and with this... I am ALL CAUGHT UP!! 

I do have some other projects I want to work on to keep me busy between bird sightings. I expect they will be fewer and far between now that the migration rush is all over. I expect I'll see a few new ones as they head back south in the fall. There are a few other hawks that summer here that I haven't seen - or at least positively IDed. 

Oh, these were the baby Coots I was taking pictures of when the Hawk started screeching! Maybe they're not so much babies anymore... more like adolescents, learning sarcasm and refusing to eat anything nutritious... 

2 comments:

  1. Ha! Adolescent coots! (reminds me of the phrase "old coot" to refer to a cranky old man)
    I'm enjoying your raptor series, and I would say this Swainson's hawk is one of your best bird paintings yet!
    More nice photos, too.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much!
      I am actually pretty happy with how this one turned out, too!
      Maybe I AM learning something doing all this!

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