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 →
<5% of wildlife watchers report a Swainson's Hawk sighting in Los Nevados National Natural Park, based on 22 days of visitor records from GBIF citizen-science data.
Closest Relatives at Los Nevados National Natural Park
Broad-winged Hawk
Buteo platypterus
White-tailed Hawk
Buteo albicaudatus
Short-tailed Hawk
Buteo brachyurus
White-throated Hawk
Buteo albigula
Variable Hawk
Buteo polyosoma
Roadside Hawk
Rupornis magnirostris
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle
Geranoaetus melanoleucus
Black-and-chestnut Eagle
Spizaetus isidori
Plumbeous Kite
Ictinia plumbea
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Accipiter striatus
White-rumped Hawk
Percnohierax leucorrhous
White-tailed Kite
Elanus leucurus
📅 Monthly Probability
☀️ 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
Parks Where Found
Quick answers
What are the chances of seeing a Swainson's Hawk in Los Nevados National Natural Park?
About 0% of wildlife watchers report a Swainson's Hawk sighting in Los Nevados National Natural Park, based on 22 days of visitor records from GBIF citizen-science data.
When is the best time to see Swainson's Hawk in Los Nevados National Natural Park?
October has the highest sighting rate for Swainson's Hawk in Los Nevados National Natural Park in our monthly data.