Swainson's Hawk
Buteo swainsoni
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Cordats)
- ClassAves (Aus)
- OrderAccipitriformes
- FamilyAccipitridae (Accipítrids)
- GenusButeo (Buteos)
- SpeciesButeo swainsoni (Swainson's Hawk)
Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsoni) is a large bird species in the Accipitriformes order. This species was named after William Swainson, a British naturalist. It is colloquially known as the grasshopper hawk or locust hawk, as it is very fond of Acrididae (locusts and grasshoppers) and will voraciously eat these insects whenever they are available. Their breeding habitat is prairie and dry grasslands in western North America. They build a stick nest in a tree or shrub or on a cliff edge. This species is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Argentina; it has been recorded as a vagrant in neighboring Chile, in the island countries of the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago, and in Norway. Wikipedia →
Closest Relatives at Coiba National Park
Broad-winged Hawk
Buteo platypterus
Short-tailed Hawk
Buteo brachyurus
Common Black-Hawk
Buteogallus anthracinus
Roadside Hawk
Rupornis magnirostris
Ornate Hawk-Eagle
Spizaetus ornatus
White Hawk
Leucopternis albicollis
Great Black-Hawk
Buteogallus urubitinga
Double-toothed Kite
Harpagus bidentatus
Black Vulture
Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture
Cathartes aura
Osprey
Pandion haliaetus
King Vulture
Sarcoramphus papa
📅 Monthly Probability
Fewer than 5 records of Swainson's Hawk at Coiba National Park — not enough to chart months honestly.
☀️ When They're Spotted
Most active during daytime hours (6am–6pm) · across all parks (global)
Global Distribution
Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.
where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is) · parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there