Subject: Re: SE Washington Swainson's Hawks?
Date: Jun 18 14:03:50 1997
From: sue ericksen - ericksen at nwinfo.net


At 01:35 PM 6/18/97 -0400, you wrote:
>A "near miss" on the recent SE Washington "grand birdathon" was Swainson's
>Hawk! Where are they?!!? Only two years ago in the Lower Columbia Basin and
>central eastern Washington, they were way far more numerous. Have eastern
>Washington birders detected a noticeable decline in numbers this year, or is
>this just my erroneous perception? Given the massive mortality due to
>insecticide spraying in Argentina in recent years, I was just wondering if we
>might now be seeing the "fallout" from this incident first reported two
>winters ago. Or... is the conversion of grass and alfalfa lands of much of
>the SE to wheat and other crop lands more likely contributing to my
>perception of reduced numbers. Or... maybe a little of both?
>
>Richard Rowlett
>Bellevue, WA


We had our first sighting this year, so that is an "increase" in numbers for
us. We believe a pair has been nesting for several years south of Moxee City.

Sue
Zillah