The Birders Report

Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) photos by Larry Jordan

This Swainson’s Hawk (Buteo swainsoni) was the first raptor we spotted my first morning in Sierra Valley.  What a way to start the morning with the best look I ever had at a Swainson’s Hawk!

I had spotted this hawk before on trips down Interstate 5 in the Sacramento Valley of California but those sightings were from a distance. This Swainson’s Hawk was sitting on a post on a narrow two lane road (county road 24) on our way out to the viewing platform on Maddalena Ranch.  Since there was no traffic that early on a Friday morning, I stopped and snapped off some photos from the car.

These beautiful birds are now reduced in numbers or distribution throughout their range and considered to be declining in Utah, Nevada, and Oregon.  They are listed as a Species of Special Concern in Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, and as Threatened in California.

Each autumn, nearly the entire breeding population of the Swainson’s Hawk migrates from the temperate zone of North America to wintering areas in South America. From Canada, this migration is more than 10,000 km each way, a distance second among raptors only to that of the Arctic Peregrine Falcon¹.

Like most buteos, the Swainson’s Hawk feeds its young rodents, rabbits and reptiles but not so during non-breeding season.

Swainson’s Hawk Drawing by John James Audubon

When it’s not breeding, the Swainson’s Hawk eats insects, primarily grasshoppers.   Their numbers have dropped since the 1980’s primarily due to loss of feeding grounds in their U.S. and Canadian breeding territory, and pesticide use in Argentina where they winter.

Swainson’s Hawks now commonly breed in agricultural areas where they can find suitable prey and large trees for nesting.  This is exactly where we found this bird nesting in the Sierra Valley.

This is most likely the female since the male rarely incubates the eggs.  Here is another shot of her in the nest.  She was pretty well hidden.

I was, needless to say, excited just to see a nesting Swainson’s Hawk and it was in the only large tree in the area, surrounded by acres of farmland.  I hope they have a successful nesting season.

If you love birds and want to see more great bird photos, check out Bird Photography Weekly.

References: ¹ Birds of North America Online

This fabulous new book, just released by Princeton University Press, Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer, and Build, is a must have book if you have ever wondered how birds are able to build such incredible nests.

Peter Goodfellow has created a fascinating read combining “blueprint” drawings, with explanations, of each nest type as well as detailed drawings of the techniques and materials used by some specific species of birds.

I knew that hummingbirds, as well as many other bird species use spider webs in ther nest construction, but did you know that “spider silk is a protein fiber that has a relatively higher tensile strength than the steel cable typically used on suspension bridges, and is on a par with Kevlar fibers used to make bulletproof vests?”  Just one of the many interesting facts I learned from this book.

Peter covers all kinds of bird nests from simple “Scrape Nests” to the unbelievable “Courts & Bowers” created by Bowerbirds (click on link to see an example of the chapter lead pages).  Here is the lead page for the chapter on “Mud Nests.”

Following the illustrated pages on building techniques for the specific nest types you will find case studies of species that use this type of nest.  Here is the page explaining the case studies with an awesome photo of a African Masked-Weaver!

Obviously, you can see from these page examples that the photos provided in this book are exemplary.  I only wish I could show you the image on page 81 of the Winter Wren approaching the domed nest with an insect in her beak and the eager young, mouths agape, waiting.  But, I guess you will have to purchase the book to see it, and the other 299 images.  I recommend it!

Sandhill Crane (Grus canadensis) photo by Larry Jordan

Unfortunately, we have lost the first battle in the attempt to stop the state of Kentucky from allowing the hunting of the eastern population of Sandhill Cranes.  On June 3rd, 2011, the Kentucky Wildlife Resources Commission approved a hunt season on sandhill cranes to be held in December of 2011.

As stated by my friend Vickie Henderson of Vickie Henderson Art “evidence from research conducted by the International Crane Foundation indicates that hunting this population at the current time could harm important breeding populations, and that population increase estimates are overinflated due to flaws in count methodology.”

There are so many things wrong with this proposal.  It appears that the Kentucky Wildlife Resources Commission approved this hunting season on Sandhill Cranes simply to satisfy a small group of hunters, giving them an opportunity to “hunt” this slow flying, easy to hit “target” (see my post on Sandhill Crane hunting to understand my dismay).

I could go on about why this is such a bad idea but my friend Vickie Henderson has written excellent articles on this subject and bundled them all together on her blog, Vickie Henderson Art.

We need to stop the madness!  Please go read Vickie’s well written arguments to stop this insanity of hunting a species that has just recently responded to recovery efforts.

I have also installed a link to the Kentucky Coalition for Sandhill Cranes in the right column of my blog that you can click on to get all the information on who to contact to stop the Sandhill Crane hunting madness!