Swainson's Hawk
2nd year bird
Bastrop Co., Texas
11 May 2013
This is a very unusually plumaged young Swainson's Hawk. I'm posting it just to show some of the variations in plumage this species can show on occasion. By the long wings (which can be seen extending past the end of the tail in the 2nd shot) it pretty much has to be a Swainson's. The only other breeding buteos in this area are Red-tailed and Red-shouldered. This was in the middle of extensive pastureland.
Despite iNat's "out-of range" designation, Swainson's Hawks are common breeders all over the Austin area and always have been.
This record gleaned from field journals I kept between 1968 and 2002. The first 6500+ records I posted on iNat had photo documentation, but now I am posting these records which do not have photos just to provide the data point for the species, date, and location as best as I can for the historical record. I will also add a number to represent the approximate number of individuals of this species I recorded on the given day if more than one.
OK, 45 year old confession here and hope that the statue of limitations has expired. In 1968, I worked at a boy scout ranch in New Mexico for the summer. Three of us on the staff fancied ourselves as falconers. I had a Swainson's Hawk, one of my friends had an American Kestrel and another had a Prairie Falcon. All these birds were taken from nests as babies and we kept them through the summer. All the birds were released in late August 1968 and I hope they survived on their own. In my journals I have the dates and locations where we caught these young birds, so I thought that perhaps these old slide scans could serve some sort of purpose as data points and in some small way make up for youthful mistakes of taking these birds from their nests.
I have recorded the date and location where the bird was originally found. The actual photos were taken in mid August, 1968.
Two shots posted, one of the immature Swainson's Hawk and one of the group of us holding the birds.
San Diego County, California, US
San Diego County, California, US
San Diego County, California, US
San Diego County, California, US
The Swainson's Hawk, (Buteo swainsoni), is a large buteo hawk of the Falconiformes, sometimes separated in the Accipitriformes like its relatives. This species was named after William Swainson, a British naturalist. It is colloquially known as Grasshopper Hawk or Locust Hawk, as it is very fond of Acrididae (locusts and grasshoppers) and will voraciously eat these insects whenever they are available.
