Swainson's Hawk

Photo by coloshrike
Pawnee National Grassland, Colorado, USA, April 2006

Buteo swainsoni

Identification

48–56 cm (19-22 in)

• Dark brown upperparts
• Brown chest with dark "bib"
• White throat patch
• Pale belly.
  

A rufous morph is discussed in this thread.

Distribution

Western North America, wintering in Argentina, southern Brazil and Paraguay.

Juvenile
Photo by gophish
New Baltimore, New York, October 2009

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

A wide variety of habitats including prairie and dry grasslands.

Behaviour

Breeding

They build a stick nest in a tree, shrub or on a cliff edge. The 1-4 white eggs are incubated by the female for 34-35 days.

Diet

Photo by Higheagle
North California, April 2009

They have a very varied diet, which mostly consists of small mammals; rabbits, voles, bats etc in the breeding season, as well as some birds.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved July 2017)
3. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Swainson's Hawk. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 20 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Swainson%27s_Hawk

External Links

Search for photos of Swainson's Hawk in the gallery