Swainson's Hawks Sumas Prairie May 11

[Gord]

This afternoon on Wellsline Road near Cole in Sumas Prairie I saw a raptor up fairly high. At first I thought maybe it was an Osprey but when I got out the binoculars I saw it was a light-phase Swainson's Hawk. Nice bird kiting (hovering in one place) over newly cut grass fields no doubt looking for mice.





I looked behind me and saw another raptor holding in the wind and it turned out to be a dark-phased Swainson's Hawk. First time I've seen more than one at once. Actually Ive only for certain seen one other anyway around here so I guess I didnt have much to try and beat. This bird is quite possibly what John Vooys reported a couple days ago.









A few kilometers to the east on the way home I saw another light-phased Swainson's. The other one was moving westwards as it was hunting an this second sighting was of a bird coming from the east. Cant say for certain but could have been a third. They do migrate in flocks so I guess it is not impossible.

[Chris]

Nice sighting Gord. I have been on the look out for one of these.

[murraybrown]

Gord, that is a great sighting! Interestingly, I was a passenger in a car travelling along Hwy. 99 in Delta, the same day and spotted a raptor that I said to the others in the car, looked like a Swainson's Hawk. However, travelling along at about 110 kms. p/h it was a tough call!

You're absolutely right about them migrating in large numbers. They sometimes form flocks of several hundred birds, although I have never heard of that in B.C.

I think that is a fairly significant discovery.