Tweeters,

For the record, there appear to be NO adequately documented records of
Swainson's Hawk in the Vancouver, BC area at any time of year, let
alone in the winter (when most Swainson's Hawks are in Argentina).
This bird appears to be extremely rare even as a migrant west of the
Cascades in BC and Washington, and unknown in winter.

I understand that there are some adequately documented records of
Swainson's Hawk for Victoria and the San Juan Islands. However, the
absence or near-absence of this species west of the Cascades is
striking, considering that it is fairly common in some areas of
eastern WA and the southern interior of BC.

Wayne C. Weber
Delta, BC
contopus at telus.net


----- Original Message -----
From: Dan <dan at calivita.com>
To: Tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; <rsaecker at thurston.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 11:31 PM
Subject: RE: Swainsons Hawks in Western WA?


> What about the possibility of a Swainson's Hawk, especially in
winter, being
> an escapee? I once met a fellow in Abbotsford, B.C. (just across the
border
> from Sumas, Washington) that said he kept several of the birds. He
said he
> also knew a few other falconers that kept Swainson's Hawks as well.
>
> Regards,
> Daniel Bastaja
> dan at calivita.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
> [mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of Rob Saecker
> Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 12:20 PM
> To: Eugene and Nancy Hunn; floriferous at msn.com;
> tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: Re: Swainsons Hawks in Western WA?
>
>
> At 11:54 AM -0800 1/20/04, Eugene and Nancy Hunn wrote:
> >Rob,
> >
> >It is my understanding that any Swainson's north of southern
Florida in
> >winter is astounding.
> >
> >Gene Hunn.
>
> This is not quite right; there is a well documented population of
> Swainson's hawks that winter in the CA central valley, in the
> vicinity of Stockton if I remember correctly. That said, a
Swainson's
> in western Washington is noteworthy at any time, never mind in
> winter. But checking the assumed red-tails for rough-legs can be
> worthwhile.
> --
> Rob Saecker
> Olympia
> rsaecker at thurston.com
>
>
>