At 05:46 PM 12/30/97 -0800, you wrote:

>"Everybody who has gotten this news and knows anything about Swainson's
>hawks is completely surprised," said Michael Bradbury, a wildlife
>biologist for the state Department of Water Resources.

>While the main population from the western plains traveled 5,000 miles
>to the Argentine agricultural valleys near the tip of South America,
>five of the six Central Valley Swainson's hawks equipped last summer
>with radio transmitters never left North America.

>Instead, the five hawks have settled into southern Mexico for the winter
>while a sixth bird crossed over Central America and settled in southern
>Colombia.

This is amazing, but I'm only about 98% surprised since the one time I
went winter birding outside Mazatlan I saw a Swainson's hawk hunting
the airport. It was in January, so it was obviously not a migrant.



- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
Nature photos, on-line guides, and other goodies at
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