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SWAINSON'S HAWK FACTS
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Description
Swainson's Hawk is a medium hawk with brown head and white face, dark chest band, light tail with dark bands. There is alight form with white belly, and a dark form that is mainly brown with white under the tail and some lighter marking on the wings. Juvenile birds are similar to adults but have streaked underside and large spots on the breast.
Size
length 48cm - 56cm
Environment
open country, grassland, shrubland, farmland.
Food
mammals, birds, reptiles, insects such as grasshoppers and dragonflies.
Breeding
Nest is made of sticks lined with twigs, grass, weeds, wool. Nest is built in a tree. Lays one to four whitish eggs. Eggs are unmarked or lightly blotched.
Range
Swainson's Hawk breeds in British Columbia, Yukon, southern Alberta and southern Manitoba, western half of the United States, northern Mexico. Winters in South America.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Falconiformes | | Family: | Accipitridae | | Genus: | Buteo | | Species: | swainsoni | | Common Name: | Swainson's Hawk |
Relatives in same Genus
White-tailed Hawk (B. albicaudatus)
Short-tailed Hawk (B. brachyurus)
Red-tailed Hawk (B. jamaicensis)
Rough-legged Hawk (B. lagopus)
Red-shouldered Hawk (B. lineatus)
Gray Hawk (B. nitidus)
Ferruginous Hawk (B. regalis)
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