Hello Again Tweeters:
Marv Breece sent to the following msg to me. It's possible that a Swainson's Hawk was over Des Moines on Sunday. Marv has seen and photographed two of them in the past in Western WA in winter. One of them was at Nisqually on Feb 2, 2011 which is the same date, different year. Here is his msg.
Yours, Carol Schulz


From: Marv Breece
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 8:29 AM
To: Carol & Lynn Schulz
Subject: Re: [Tweeters] Swainson's Hawk? - Des Moines, WA

Hi Carol:
I don't think you are cracking up at all. I have 2 winter sightings of Swainson's Hawk here in Washington. The first was Jan 5, 2009 at Vancouver Lake and the second was Feb 2, 2011 at Nisqually. I photographed both birds. Rare but not unprecedented.
I hope you get to see it again.
Good birding, Carol.


Marv Breece
Seattle, WA
marvbreece at q.com


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From: "Carol & Lynn Schulz" <carol.schulz50 at gmail.com>
To: "Tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 3, 2014 8:11:57 AM
Subject: [Tweeters] Swainson's Hawk? - Des Moines, WA

Hi Tweeters:
I THINK I saw a SWAINSON'S HAWK rapidly gliding south over Des Moines, WA, near Seatac Airport at 12:45pm, on Sun, Feb 2. I thought it was a Red-tailed Hawk until I looked w/ my bins. It had dark or black remiges (flight feathers), salmon-colored underparts, a dark tail (from underneath), and NO black petagial mark (black mark across leading edge of underside of wings. The leading parts of the underside of the wings looked light to me. The bird glided through fairly quickly going south. I'm sorry to say I didn't get on the head color. I was too surprised, I think.
We are located near the top of a bluff that leads from the Des Moines Creek area and goes south at about elevation 200 ft. We are east of Puget Sound about 1 mile. I know that most Swainson's should be in Argentina now eating insects. But could the very-few Swainson's Hawks that can over-winter in the areas north of Oakland be stressed? Could one of them have flown north, looking for insects or even rodents?