Swainson Hawks migrating through Colorado

I enjoyed watching good numbers of Swainson Hawks as they begin their fabulous long migration to their wintering grounds in Argentina, the longest migration of any American hawk. I saw the bird in these photos in Otero Co. on the road to Blue Lake. You can see what long slender wings they have.
I see a number of Swainson Hawks in this area, which has large swaths of grassland, in the fall. There are usually a good percentage of juveniles among them.
Swainson Hawks also nest in southeast Colorado and so they can be seen throughout the breeding season here. Read more about them onCornell's All About Birds website.
SeEtta

Grassland hawks

In addition to all the Snowy Egrets I saw in Otero Co on Saturday, I enjoyed some nice grassland birds including Swainson's Hawks. In addition to the adult Swainson's Hawk in these pics, I saw 4 immatures and an additional adult in a one mile stretch just north of Holbrook Reservoir (which is just north of La Junta).

As can be seen in these pics, wings of Swainson's Hawks are rather elegant. This is a typical light morph adult, with gray face, white throat and face patch and dark brown back. The uppertail coverts on the lower back are lightish colored, forming a "u" that is clearly seen in the lower two pics.

Other raptors included an immature Bald Eagle that was perched in the same tree where a Bald Eagle nested and produced 2 young (so this is likely one of those). I also saw even more Red-tailed Hawks than Swainson's as well as several American Kestrals.
SeEtta

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

Swainson Hawks are back

Swainson Hawks, that winter as far south as Argentina, are returning to Colorado to breed. Today I saw 5 Swainson's Hawks, mostly in Bent County, including two perched in one tree. One of those in that tree was a Rufous morph, while the other and the remainder of the birds were typical Swainson's with dark bib and whitish bellies.

The bird in the top photo is, of course, a typical Swainson. The bird in the botton pic is the Rufous-morph that I saw today. As can be seen, these have dark brown (as with this bird) or rufous breast with a lighter rufous belly. As can be seen, the undertail feathers are grayish with many darker bands with a broader sub-terminal band.
SeEtta