Swainson's Hawk

Buteo swainsoni

Migrates in flocks of 10,000 down to Argentina. Your message rides one of the great American highways.

Population: ~900,000 individuals
Habitat: Open and semi-open country — grasslands, prairies, deserts, ranchland, hayfields and farmland, favoring wild prairie/pasture over cultivated fields, with scattered trees or groves for nesting
Fun fact: Nicknamed the "grasshopper hawk," Swainson's Hawk undertakes one of the longest migrations of any North American raptor — roughly 7,100 miles (11,400 km) round-trip to the Argentine pampas, lasting at least two months — with nearly the entire population funneling through the narrow Isthmus of Panama in migratory "kettles" of thousands of birds.
Range: Breeds across western North America (east-central Alaska/southwestern Yukon south through the Great Plains and prairie provinces to Texas); winters mainly on the pampas of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, with small numbers in southeastern Florida and the Texas coast
Diet: Ground squirrels, gophers, cottontails, mice, snakes and small birds while breeding; switches to grasshoppers, crickets, locusts, and other large insects the rest of the year
Size: 0.5 m
Wingspan: 1.26 m
Lifespan: 26 years

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