Saturday, April 4, 2020

Swainson's Hawks During and After Mating

I was waiting for over a month for different raptors to come at Bear River and was happy to meet Swainson's Hawks for the first time in my life. 

These raptors usually stay during winter in South America but in March they head north to find their mates, build nests, lay eggs and raise their offsprings.  Some of them will stop in Northern Utah to do just that.


The female Swainson's Hawk is waiting for her mate who apparently was somewhere close.  I didn't see the male Hawk around, he appeared almost out of nowhere.



The mating happened twice on the same tree with about twenty minutes interval.



The male Hawk's keeps his wings wide spread during the beginning of mating. My guess is for balance.



After the mating the male Hawk gently patted the shoulder of his mate.



After the mating. 




The female Swainson's Hawk.






8 comments:

  1. Muy bien captado este momento pleno de magia... La vida sigue
    Un abrazo

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  2. They look like sun moles, but the biological cycle follows its course.

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  3. Красавчики!!! И ветка дерева такая живописная)

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  4. Un reportaje fotográfico de un gran interés, Kaya y muy didáctico, cuídate.

    Saludos.

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  5. Hello Kaya,
    This is so fantastic. Great pictures of these birds.
    You have done this so well. My compliments!!

    Greetings, Marco

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  6. Interesting to know the Swainson's Hawks to mate by following your photos...
    thank you for sharing beautiful photos and story of hawk mating.

    # Stay safe, healthy and virus free

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  7. Outstanding photos dear Kaya. I love the forth one. This photo is so full of love, gorgeous! :)

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  8. Otro excelente reportaje de unas rapaces en su apareamiento. La fotografía del macho tocando las espalda con su ala es la mejor. Da una imagen de sensibilidad del macho sobre la hembra excepcional.
    Un abrazo y cuidate.

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