Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Swainson's Hawk

I saw two Swainson's hawks last Saturday near the southern end of the Salton Sea (they were separated by a couple of miles but could possibly have been the same bird). It was only the third time I've seen Swainson's hawks. The first time was near Alamosa, Colorado and the second time was outside Bismarck, North Dakota. 

The Swainson's hawk has two morphs: (a) 90% are light morphs with white underparts,  a dark bib on the chest and a white throat and face patch; and (b) 10% are dark morphs which are a dark brown except for a light patch under the tail and they are most common in the far west of its range.  

These bird(s) were light morphs.
This first hawk was on a telephone pole off Forrester Road between Bruchard and Pellett Roads. 



This hawk was on the ground near Lack Road north of Forrester Road, likely feeding on something. It flew and I got one okay photo in flight. 


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