More Swainson Hawk pics

These two photos are of a third Swainson Hawk I saw today. While the typical plumage hawk in the post below has a rufous bib, this one has a dark brown bib. These bibs make Swainson's Hawks most distinctive and often easily identified in the field.

Unfortunately these birds are declining. Pesticide use in south America is thought to be a problem. Even though they eat rodents and insects that benefits them, ranchers and farmers used to hunt them until the 1930's in North America. As is a serious problem with many species, degredation of habitat has been a problem though Swainson's have adapted to many farm fields.

Swainson Hawks will build nests on power poles which can result in electrocution for them as wells as power outages and damage to power lines causing problems for humans. In some locations (they do this in the San Luis Valley) in Colorado special devices are placed on at-risk power poles to discourage nest building and artificial nest poles are erected to encourage nesting away from active power poles.
SeEtta