Photo of the Day: Swainson's Hawk

– Posted on August 22, 2007Posted in: dogs

Swainson’s Hawk, Cherry Hills, Colorado

This was shot in my back yard with a Canon D60 with a 75-300 lens. I was perhaps 30 to 50 feet away at the time and the Hawk seemed little concerned with my presence. This hawk was one of three that were raised in my yard by two adult Swainson’s hawks that nested in an Elm tree against the driveway.

The tree came down after they had grown up and moved on, the final victim of Dutch Elm disease and the last of some 30 elm trees on the acre and some to meet such and end. The hawks have come back each year and found nests in the area, once in the neighbor’s yard, and another year one nested about a mile away. It always makes me nostalgic when I’ll see one of them soaring overhead or swooping down for a squirrel or rabbit kill when I’m on a walk or a drive in the neighborhood.

A few more photos of these majestic birds can be found in my old photo.net portfolio.

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About Christopher

Christopher Landauer is a fifth generation Colorado native and second generation Border Collie enthusiast. Border Collies have been the Landauer family dogs since the 1960s and Christopher got his first one as a toddler. He began his own modest breeding program with the purchase of Dublin and Celeste in 2006 and currently shares his home with their children Mercury and Gemma as well. His interest in genetics began in AP Chemistry and AP Biology and was honed at Stanford University.