Wayne,

You BC dudes need get with it and document some of these spring
Swainson's Hawks. Do you mean to tell me that they are all taking a
right turn somewhere prior to the border and heading east? Seems
unlikely but what the heck.

You must know by now, by my other comments about the need for
documenting early arriving reports of Swainson's Thrush and Red-eyed
Vireo, that documenting rare sightings is extremely important to me. I
can tell you that every one of the spring western Washington Swainson's
Hawks that made it into North American Birds columns was critically
scrutinized. A few were very nicely documented. Ryan Merill had a photo
of one in Sequim a few springs back and I was able to video capture one
of the three Swainson's Hawks moving over Point no Point in 2008. Only
one of my Kitsap Swainson's Hawks was seen by me only. All others
involved multiple observers. In fact, on a WOS trip about three years
ago, about 12 of us got to scope study a Swainson's Hawk going over a
lunch stop place a few miles south of Point no Point. That was fun!

Now it could very well be that the Puget Trough, and maybe specifically
the north end of the Kitsap Peninsula is just a hot spot for catching
these very few west-side migrant Swainson's Hawk. Come on over to Point
no Point in mid-May and see what I'm talking about. We may not get a
Swainson's Hawk, but I can almost assure you of witnessing hawk
migration if conditions are right. I don't think I have an answer to why
you are lacking credible records for spring Swainson's Hawks. Given
that, I can see why "exceptionally rare" in BC would apply. But, it no
longer applies in western Washington, though I would still call them
"rare". It looks as though Gene's King County records would further
support their "rare" status.

I would agree that Swainson's Hawk color morphs could be easily confused
with many color morphs of Red-tailed Hawks. But I would think that is
something that can be tricky with a perched hawks at a distance. But in
flight, I have to tell you, it is all about structure, at least to even
go down the Swainson's Hawk identification path. I know this will be
misinterpreted, but Swainson's Hawk are more reminiscent of a Northern
Harrier in flight that a Red-tailed Hawk to me. They have long pointy
wings and a longish tail (looks often narrow to me). They also soar with
there wings in a dihedral. I guess I have watched enough of both
Red-tail and Swainson's hawks in flight to find them quite different, if
seen well.

Cheers and good hawk-watching,

Brad Waggoner
Bainbridge Island
mailto:wagtail at sounddsl.com