It had been over a week since the bird was first seen and nearly a week since it was first identified. What bird am I talking about? The Swainson’s Hawk in Greene County, New York, discovered by upstate birder and Greene County partisan, Rich Guthrie, and described by him here, here, and here. Why does this matter? Because in addition to Swainson’s Hawks being intrinsically cool and beautiful it would be a new bird for me for the year and for the state. In fact, it would be an altogether new bird for me; a lifer! However, living in New York City, over two hours away from the site that the hawk was frequenting, and not owning a car seemed to preclude me from having any chance at checking out the bird and checking it off the various and sundry lists I keep. But I figured if I had any chance at all of seeing such a bird I would just have to talk it up a whole big bunch to some nice birders who do have cars until they agreed to drive me upstate to see the bird.
So, at the Queens County Bird Club field trip to Kissena Park yesterday I did just that. I was aided in my efforts by Eric Miller, who led the field trip, and took the cruel and usual step of showing me the pictures he got of the Swainson’s Hawk several days earlier, which led me to complain about his violation of the no gripping clause of the Birders’ Geneva Convention, which I am in the process of writing. The only way for Eric to make amends for such a heinous act was by assisting me in any way to see the bird, so I had an ally with whom I could start twisting Jean’s arm (you remember Jean, we’ve dipped a rarity together, seen a rarity together, did the CBC together, and she has even written a guest post here on 10,000 Birds). Anyway, the arm-twisting began and did not let up until she promised to “think about” making a run upstate for the hawk on Monday, today. This might lead the savvy reader to wonder how I could possibly have written a blog post about chasing the hawk already if I haven’t even gone after it yet.
Well, to make a long story short, Jean was having her other arm twisted to go after the Swainson’s Hawk on Tuesday, by Arie, who couldn’t go today. Jean already knew that I couldn’t go on Tuesday, so, once she got home from the hugely successful field trip, she made the shocking and risky decision to tell us she would chase the hawk not on Monday or Tuesday but only that very afternoon! Needless to say, both Arie and I were stunned, but he had no problem with it and once I sold what little is left of my soul to Daisy I had no problem either. Within ten minutes of Jean’s decision we were on the road and heading upstate!
Will, who had already seen the bird once before, was kind enough, once I called him and explained our insanity, to get to the hawk site to monitor the hawk’s exact location and keep us posted, and about two-and-a-half hours and 125 miles later there was the hawk!
The juvenile Buteo swainsoni put on a show, flying from perch to perch, and, on one occasion, it flew directly over us. We were happy to enjoy the hawk for nearly a full hour until we realized that if we wanted any light at all for our ride back we had better get going. But what a bird!
After a quick drive down the road to the Dunkin’ Donuts for some refreshments before our long traffic-laden ride home, we spotted the bird one more time perched on the side of the entrance to the Thruway, so, of course, we had to pull over and get a couple more shots.
Many thanks to Rich for finding the bird, to Will for keeping us updated as to the bird’s every move, and, of course, to Jean and Arie for providing transportation and great company for the long ride upstate and back! Now if only another rare raptor would show up…
Nice shots Corey. Glad you guys got the bird.
What a great bird! The ones in Missouri would hang out near highways too. Must be something about the cropped grass that they like.
Beautiful shots of a beautiful bird!
@Will: Thanks, and thanks for helping!
@Nate: It was soooo great. And folks are actually worried that this bird end up as roadkill.
@OpposableChums: Thanks!
@ Nate: I watched this particular hawk feed mere inches from a busy highway. All it would take is one grasshopper to take off roadward and the hawk would follow into traffic.
We have had a heavy Freeze the last couple of nights, so the insects will soon die out for the season. The bird seems to be wandering further afield now. Hopefully it will get out of here before the snow flies.
The Swainson’s I used to watch used to be pretty adept at picking food from the median, but they were adult birds with what I assume was a fair bit of practice and experience in such a dangerous situation. Hopefully, this bird will avoid the worst.
@Corey: Sometimes spur-of-the-moment works, sometimes the other way. I hope you made some nice tea for Daisy on Monday to make up for running out when you had only just gotten home from Kissena Park. Those close-up pics of the Swainson’s are great!
ps my arms weren’t too sore from all that twisting 🙂
@Will: Thanks to you & Danika for running out to get us the current location. A great trip for a great bird!
Dec 19, 2010. Bill looked out the backyard window today and spotted a hawk sitting in our pussey willow tree. We beleive it to be Swainsons hawk. The hawk sat for a few moments, we were able to get a few pictures. It is a cloudy day and all of the backyard birds (sparrows) nd pigons were momentarily gone. Its always a beautiful site to see a uncommon bird land in your yard. We knew the hawk came looking for food. We waited and watched. He flew into our blackberry bush and snagged a bird. Flew to our neighbors pine tree and proceeded to eat lunch. We had to look it up and found this website and are happy to report the pleasure of having a hawk in our yard. Looks to be a young bird, possibly born this past spring. We live in Brooklyn, N.Y. betw 3rd and 4th ave on 74th street. We have spotted hawks in our area before and are always amazed. Last hawk we saw landed in the exact same tree was about 4 years ago. This hawk was very light colored and had gotten a mouse and proceeded to rip it apart and dine right in front of our back door. Sounds bloody and gross but this is nature. On our particular block my neightbor feeds birds all year long and the differnt birds that ocme through are fantastic. Wood peckers and finches in the summer, Robins and Blue jays are common. Thank you for allowing us to share our story of the hawk and others who stop by our block. This shows the world that more animals can co-exist where you least expect it.
@janet and Bill M: Thanks for the story! It seems highly unlikely that you have a Swainson’s Hawk in Brooklyn, though anything is possible. It might be a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk or a Red-shouldered Hawk that you have. If you can get pictures, please do.
@Janet and Bill M: I think Corey is right that it is more likely either a juvie R-T Hawk or Red-shouldered Hawk. I am pretty sure Red-shouldered Hawks have overwintered in Greenpoint Cemetery in the past, and currently there are a couple in the area in Queens (Jamaica Bay & Forest Park) and I think I had heard of one in Brooklyn as well.
I had a R-S Hawk yesterday at Forest Park for our area CBC, and really studied it in case I needed to write it up. Looking at Corey’s pics from the Swainson’s upstate, I remembered that one of the really distinctive field marks on that bird was the huge dark “splotches” on the chest that continued throughout the entire chest & belly. The R-S by comparison shows finer horizontal lines throughout this same area. A R-T hawk might have splotches across the chest (the “belly band”) but would show clear above and below.
Lastly, after looking at Corey’s excellent photos of the bird we saw upstate, you still think that is what you have, be prepared to host many, many birders who will be beating a path to your door to get this bird for their NYC lists! I will be one of them!
i live on 7th avenue across from greenwood cemetery in park slope and there is a hawk who has made the trees around the statue of minerva his home. wondering if he shouldn’t have flown south by now? especially after last weeks abominable snowstorm. saw him again this morning per usual, so was relieved he survived. curious if anyone knows anything about this particular bird?
March 27, 2011
Saw the Swainson’s hawk on top of my roof. Ouaquaga Rd., town of colesville. A rare sight indeed, and very exciting. I was’nt sure what it was til I found this sight.
YESTERDAY AFTERNOON SPOTTED A NICE SMALL BIRD COME INTO OUR SHOWROOM BECAUSE THE DOORS WERE OPENED. HE HOPPED IN NOT FLYING CAME A FEW FEET THEN STOPPED AND CLOSED HIS EYES. I GOT UP CAREFULLY THINKING THIS SMALL BIRD IS GOING TO TAKE OFF AND I WANTED A CLOSER LOOK.
TO MY SURPRISE HE DIDN’T MOVE AT ALL. SO I GOT A TOWEL AND WAS GOING TO PUT IT OVER HIM AND TAKE BACK OUTSIDE WHEN I REACHED OUT HE COULD HARDLY MOVE SO I GENTLY PICKED HIM UP IN THE TOWEL AND GOT A REAL CLOSE LOOK. REALIZING IT WAS SOME KIND OF SMALL HAWK. HE WAS VERY WEAK, I OFFERED HIM SOME WATER WHICH HE TOOK A FEW SMALL DROPS BUT WAS INTERESTED IN MY FINGERS, THEN HE WOULD JUST CLOSE HIS EYES AND GO TO SLEEP.
I STARTED CALLING AROUND TO SEE WHO COULD HELP THIS BEAUTIFUL LITTLE CREATURE. FOUND A RETIRED HAWK HEAVEN NUMBER AND THE GENTLEMAN DIRECTED ME TO MARK BAKER, I CALLED AND EXPLAINED HE CAME WITHIN THE HOUR TO RETRIEVE THE BIRD HE TOLD ME WHAT IT WAS AND UPON EXAMINING IT HE SAID IT WAS VERY STARVED. HE LEFT WITH IT AND I FELT BETTER IT WAS IN GOOD HANDS.
CALLED THIS MORNING TO CHECK ON HIM AND MARK SADLY SAID HE HAD PASSED ABOUT A HOUR AFTER HE GOT HIM HOME, HE TRYED FEEDING BUT IT WAS TO LATE.
I WILL NOT FORGET MY INTRODUCTION TO THIS BEAUTIFUL BIRD. EVEN IF IT IS SAD HE DID NOT MAKE IT.
I am in Monroe County New York I found the hawk in my backyard what do i do
Hi Corey. I am aware that this is an article from 2009, but if you are still interested, I spotted a Swainson’s Hawk in Bay Ridge Brooklyn at approximately 10:00 A.M. on Friday 08/19/2022. Only five blocks from the R Train, the sighting was at Colonial Road and 91st Street. Definitely a Swainson’s Hawk, it circled just above the tree tops three times then flew off. The location is that of a monastery sitting on seven acres and in close proximity to many acres of park land along the Belt Parkway. Various hawks visit the monastery grounds. Sorry, I wasn’t in a position to take photos. If you need more info, let me know.