Swainson’s Hawks – Antipicating Their Arrival

Swainson’s Hawks have been absent from North America for many months. They winter in the pampas of South America and their breeding ground is the temperate zone of North America which means their annual migratory round trip is a long one – roughly 12,000 miles (among raptors only the Arctic Peregrine Falcon migrates further).

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Singing Male Marsh Wren

For me, male Marsh Wrens in springtime epitomize the word “frenzied” as they flit from cattail to cattail defending nesting territory, attracting and mating with multiple females and building many “dummy” nests. And their singing is almost constant.

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An Unusually Robust Ferruginous Hawk?

The Ferruginous Hawk is often described as “massive and robust” but this one appears to have taken that description to extremes. Weighing up to 4 1/2 lbs (2kg) they are our largest and most powerful buteo so one expects to see an impressive-looking bird but even so I was struck by the prodigious girth of this individual.

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