Wayne:

While winter records seem impossible, FYI Skagit County has 5
records-reports or so now, all of apparent migrants (April-early May; Sept)
that I'm aware of, and there are a couple relatively recent early May ones.
I had a Sept. 29 bird on the flats near the Farmhouse Inn (about midway
between Skagit and Samish Flats) about ten years ago. Lewis & Sharpe have
some cited for San Juan Co, if memory serves there are a scattering of a
real small number of migrant records from other sites in the Puget Trough.

Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com



>From: "Wayne C. Weber" <contopus at telus.net>
>Reply-To: contopus at telus.net
>To: "TWEETERS" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Subject: Re: Swainsons Hawks in Western WA?
>Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 07:09:44 -0800
>
>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
> >
> >
> >
>

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