Swainson’s Hawk
Buteo swainsoni

The Swainson’s Hawk is a world class traveler, migrating between Argentina and the Western USA. Some birds will breed all the way to northern Yukon in Canada and northeastern Alaska. When they migrate, large groups will gather by the dozens or by hundreds, roosting overnight in some chosen grove. When the morning sun heats up, and thermals caused by rising warm air develop, the roosting birds launch into a slow circling formation and rise to great heights to begin their next step towards their winter or summer homes. Because the spectacle looks like an enormous boiling pot of water, people call this a kettle.
Today’s science regards the Swainson’s Hawk as monotypic (i.e. no subspecies).
Early in the 2000s, I first learned of these migration events, and the rabid birders who assemble at key locations called Hawk Watches. Most folks thought passes in the mountains along the Mexican border were the only places to gather to watch these and other birds of prey pass by. That changed when Hal Cohen, a passionate hawk watcher from the upper Midwest, moved to Borrego Springs (San Diego County, California) in 2001. There were no organized hawk watches there at the time, but Hal began his own reconnaissance regime. Two years later, in 2003, he discovered a major flyway through the desert, and the local birding community received the benefit of witnessing our own kettles of annual migrating Swainson’s Hawks. In 2012, I attended one such spectacle, and it was quite a show.
13 Photos

Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: My first meeting with this raptor. Eastern foot of the Chiracahua Mountains. South Eastern Arizona. |
Date Taken: 2003:08:27 9:25 |
Location:
Portal |
Camera Information: NIKON D1X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 |
File Name: JCD_1013SwainsonsHawk |
© 2003 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: My first meeting with this raptor. Eastern foot of the Chiracahua Mountains. South Eastern Arizona. |
Date Taken: 2003:08:27 9:26 |
Location:
Portal |
Camera Information: NIKON D1X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/1500 |
File Name: JCD_1023SwainsonsHawk |
© 2003 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: Hawk Watch. Borrego Springs, California. San Diego County 2012-03-24. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:24 9:31 |
Location:
Borrego Valley |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/3200 |
File Name: D3X8778-SwainsonsHawk |
© 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: Hawk Watch. Borrego Springs, California. San Diego County 2012-03-24. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:24 9:32 |
Location:
Borrego Valley |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/3200 |
File Name: D3X8803-SwainsonsHawk |
© 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: My first meeting with this raptor. Eastern foot of the Chiracahua Mountains. South Eastern Arizona. |
Date Taken: 2003:08:27 9:26 |
Location:
Portal |
Camera Information: NIKON D1X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 |
File Name: JCD_1021SwainsonsHawk |
© 2003 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: Perched near US-Highway 395 north of Doyle California. |
Date Taken: 2016:04:23 8:50 |
Location:
Herlong Junction |
Camera Information: NIKON D7200, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/1250 |
File Name: D728214-SwainsonsHawk |
© 2016 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: Part of a nesting pair along US-Highway 395 south of Doyle California. |
Date Taken: 2016:04:23 8:20 |
Location:
Omira |
Camera Information: NIKON D7200, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/1250 |
File Name: D728196-SwainsonsHawk |
© 2016 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: Nesting pair along US-Highway 395 south of Doyle California. |
Date Taken: 2016:04:23 8:19 |
Location:
Omira |
Camera Information: NIKON D7200, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/1250 |
File Name: D728192-SwainsonsHawk |
© 2016 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: Hawk Watch. Borrego Springs, California. San Diego County. |
Date Taken: 2012:03:24 9:33 |
Location:
Borrego Valley Road |
Camera Information: NIKON D3X, 800 mm, f/5.6, 1/3200 |
File Name: D3X8812-SwainsonsHawk |
© 2012 Jack Daynes, shadeTree-Imaging |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: All of the Swainson's Hawks we saw this morning were juveniles. Promontory Road is the route to the historic Golden Spike monument where the builders of the west bound and east bound sections of the first transcontinental railroads met and joined. |
Date Taken: 2017:08:16 7:33 |
Location:
Promontory Road |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/9.0, 1/2000 |
File Name: SwainsonsHawk-IntermediateJuvenile_D5X3640-PromontoryRoad |
© 2017 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: All of the Swainson's Hawks we saw this morning were juveniles. Promontory Road is the route to the historic Golden Spike monument where the builders of the west bound and east bound sections of the first transcontinental railroads met and joined. |
Date Taken: 2017:08:16 7:14 |
Location:
Promontory Road |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/2500 |
File Name: SwainsonsHawk-IntermediateJuvenile_D5X3532-PromontoryRoad |
© 2017 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: All of the Swainson's Hawks we saw this morning were juveniles. Promontory Road is the route to the historic Golden Spike monument where the builders of the west bound and east bound sections of the first transcontinental railroads met and joined. |
Date Taken: 2017:08:16 7:11 |
Location:
Promontory Road |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/3200 |
File Name: SwainsonsHawk-DarkJuvenile_D5X3510-PromontoryRoad |
© 2017 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |


Swainson's Hawk(Buteo swainsoni) |
Description: The Cienega at Arivaca. Part of the Buenos Aires NWR in rural Arizona. Southeast of Tucson. |
Date Taken: 2017:05:04 8:36 |
Location:
Arivaca Cienega |
Camera Information: NIKON D5, 800 mm, f/8.0, 1/6400 |
File Name: SwainsonsHawk_D5X0589 |
© 2017 Jack Daynes, shadeTreeImaging.com |

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