Swainsons Hawk

The Swainsons Hawk Story

On June 18th 2010 I was out on the prairie of Buffalo Gap Grasslands looking for a place to hang a few camera's so I could get a few deer, coyote and whatever happened to cross the camera's path.

As I was putting up a camera on one of the few trees out there, I heard a hawk screeching above me in the air. As I looked up to see the hawk, I saw a nest. I figured it was the hawks and it didn't want me there. I decided right then and there I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to get a few pics of the hawk on the nest if it was hers.

I shimmied up the tree about 12 foot and placed a mount for a camera as far up as I could reach, climbed back down, got a camera ready and went back up. I wasn't sure I had the camera aligned or high enough to see into the nest but the hawk was going crazy by this time so I decided to scoot and come back the next day to check the pictures.

When I got back the next day, I was tickled to get a few pictures. The camera was indeed high enough, but a touch to the right of center. I decided to leave it as it was.

My 1st pics showed a empty nest, so if the hawk was going to use it, it was going to be soon. I didn't have to wait long. A couple days later, there were 2 eggs in the nest.

My dilemma was getting to many pictures on the camera. I was getting 700-800 pictures a day. I wound up getting a huge memory card for the camera and changed the settings on the control board to day time only and 6 minute intervals for every picture.

This project was a real thrill for me as I got pictures from empty nest to flight from the young hawk.

You will see pictures of 2 eggs and 2 baby hawks. Nature culled the weaker baby so the strong one would survive. You will see the mother and father hawk. The male hawk brought food to the nest for a long time. Once the baby was getting near full growth, they tag teamed to watch over the nest as the female went to hunt or stretch her wings.

So from what started out as wanting to get a few pictures of a hawk on a nest, turned out to be more than 6,000 pictures and an adventure I will never forget. The pictures you see here are just a few of what I thought were the best ones.

The adventure ended on August 6 2010 with the last picture being of the female and the young hawk.