About a week ago I got to experience a rare moment as a huge group of Swainson's Hawks landed a few miles away from my house. WE get these migrations every year but not in a group this large. Swainson's hawks nest and spend the summer on the Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountains all the way from Canada to Texas. As they head south they pick up numbers and add to their group. They will migrate all the way to Southern South America and will only fly over land. they will fly for days without food. In the images below you will notice the different morphs of the hawks.
When i saw them they were every where. Hi line poles, Center Pivot Irrigation Systems, on the ground and every where they could find. There were 5 pivots I saw the birds on with one having 52 hawks or so. Fence posts on fence lines were full also.
A few notes from the pictures below. The fence posts were in the images were 8 foot apart. These fences were built to divide 10 acre plots for sale. I used the 500pf on my Z6II to capture these images. The fence line was 1/4 of a mile long. Going the length of the fence produced compression of the fence line.
What a great find - I saw a huge group fly overhead (rather circle overhead) a few years back - they hung out for about 30 mins and then they were gone. No trace
Wow, that's a lot of hawks! You are fortunate to be able to see their migration.
The Swainson's hawks go through the Anza Borrego area on their return migration. Some years thousands will pass through the Borrego valley. They make an amazing long distance migration.
Amazing. The shot along the fence line is very effective in capturing what you described in text. What an amazing event to witness. Thanks for sharing.
