Welcome to the Swainson's Hawk Watch

May 15, 2015 - A pair of Swainson's Hawks have been mating and building a new nest in a different neighborhood tree. I will try to start adding a few new 2015 photos of this pair as the summer progresses. (Scroll down on this page to see the 2015 blog posts in chronological order.)

July 3, 2015 - Sadly, the 3 chicks have fallen out of the nest and perished. This blog chronicles activities around the nest until this tragic event, with the July 3 post below the first you will read.

Note! These and additional photos (total = 154) are viewable in this Swainson's Hawks blog 2015 Picasa Web album.

Archive, May 2014 two Swainson's Hawks have been mating in a tree about a block from the old 2010 -2011 nest site. I have not seen them in a nest yet but have seen them mate three times in the same tree over a two day period.

Whenever possible I will try to post photos on this blog again this year, especially if we can identify the nest site where we can see the chicks growing and fledgling. Note! See the first photos below on the May 5, 2014 blog post below.

Archive 2010 & 2011.
In April of 2010, a pair of wild Swainson's Hawks decided to nest in our neighborhood in Boise, Idaho. This "Hawk Watch" will attempt to record words and photographs describing the Hawks behaviors, including the hatching & fledgling of chicks over the spring and summer. Many others who live in the neighborhood also watched the daily activities of the hawks and used this blog to keep up on my own observations and photographs.

Note! May 6, 2011 Two Red-tailed Hawks have settled on the old nest and appear to be laying on eggs now. See blog posts below. Here is a link to 56 Red-tailed hawk photographs from 2011 I uploaded to my Picasa Web Album.

Note! On March 12, 2011 two neighbors reported seeing a single hawk flying around and landing on the nest. Hopefully they will nest here again or nearby and we can continue the blog through 2011.
Note! Please Try to "Follow" the Blog and check in often. I am trying to update this site and the photo album at least once or twice a week. This page scrolls down to the blog entries below this introduction. The first blog entry you will see is the latest one. Scrolling the page down will reveal earlier posts in descending chronological order. And/or you can use the Blog Archive on the right side of the screen to see entries for May, through October 2010 and newer ones for 2011.
Please feel free to share this Blog with your family and friends. The URL you can email to them is:
http://swainsonshawkwatch.blogspot.com

Note ! I am posting "all" of the hawk images to an album in my Picasa Web account. Below is the web URL for that album. You can click on that hot link and/or also click on the Hawk lifting off branch photo to go to that album. As of October 3, there are 600 individual images in the album.

Note! When looking at a single photo in the album use the "full screen" icon for a larger, more impressive size!

Hawk lifting off branch

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

"Kettle" of flying Hawks (some Swainson's) seen above Panama

I found a few photos showing hawks bunching up into "kettles" as they soar and migrate south during the fall.  This and other similar images can be found on the following "Picsearch page site" provided by Panama Birding.com

Click on the image for a larger view!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Swainson's Hawk Soars and Watches Hay Bales Being Gathered.

This morning the farmer using his tractor and machine to gather up the last one third of the hay bales in the field.   I walked through the field hoping that a hawk might make an appearance and finally one did.  It soared, banked and hovered over the field for a few minutes then disappeared in the distance.  It never did come to the ground while I was watching.   Below are a few photographs I was able to capture.

Note that for many of the photos in the photo album I was using a 300 mm lens on a digital camera, which translates to 450 mm.  I dropped this lens one day an it is being repaired.  Meanwhile I have been using a 200 mm lens, (digital 300 mm)  The hawk photos below would be somewhat closer with the larger lens.  Also this hawk was up in the sky quite a ways.  Sorry!

Click on the image for a larger view!

Click on the image for a larger view!

Click on the image for a larger view!

Click on the image for a larger view!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Hawks Visit Hay Field Mowed for the 3rd Time

 In the past several days I have only seen one hawk soaring way above the Straw Bale House on September 4.

Click on the image for a larger view!

However, In the past two days I have seen two hawks near the hayfield that has been mowed for the 3rd time this year. The first time was yesterday, Sunday September 12.  At first I did not see any hawks, but then I heard a crow making a lot of noise.  As I looked around in the sky I finally saw one hawk flying over the field with a crow in pursuit.  Today, about the same time I saw one hawk fly past from the field going toward the nest site.  I was not able to get a photo as it flew past.  When I walked past the nest site and the favorite perching tree a few minutes later I did not see the hawk.

Click on the image for a larger view!

Click on the image for a larger view!

Click on the image for a larger view!

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Idaho Bird Observatory trapped a Swainson's Hawk

On the Idaho Bird Observatory's Facebook page there is a "Wall Photo" of a Swainson's Hawk that was caught in the migratory bird traps on Lucky Peak on Tuesday August 31. (Click on the link above to see the photo in a large view! Or, click on the link below to see the Facebook Page)

Idaho Bird Observatory Jay Carlisle with the Swainson's Hawk he trapped on tuesday. thanks to Rob Miller for the great photo! :)



Thursday, September 2, 2010

Hawk Flies off, returns to tree and Flies Off Again

Last evening September 1,  before sunset, I saw one hawk in the favorite perching tree with the light behind it.  It looked like it might fly and I took a couple of photos before and when it took off.   I was about to walk away when it returned and landed awkwardly on one of the small branches of the tree.  I captured a few photos of this landing, again with the light behind the hawk.  It stayed there and I decided to walk around to the cul-de-sac street where I could see the light shining on the hawk.  Before long it took off again and I was able to get one good image of the color of the underside of its wings.  I believe this is one of the young hawks from the nest this summer.

Click on the Image for a Larger View!


Click on the Image for a Larger View!


Click on the Image for a Larger View!


Click on the Image for a Larger View!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

3 Hawks Seen Flying Around Favorite Tree

On Sunday August 29, about 4:30 PM  a neighbor left a message on my phone that she was watching 3 hawks flying around the favorite perching tree.  I did not get the message until nearly dark and the hawks were not around then.

However on the next evening, Monday, it was cloudy and getting dark when I walked past the tree and saw two hawk silhouettes  perched in the tree as looked west in the direction of the setting sun.  I took a few photos at that place, but I knew from past experiences that there was a cul de sac street  around the corner where I could get a view looking east and possibly see and photograph some feather colors, even though there was no sunlight at all.

Interestingly, one of the hawks had much lighter colored breast colors than any of the hawk family I had taken photos of during the summer from this neighborhood area.  The second hawk was darker colored and probably was one of the young hawks from the family.   As I watched and took a few photographs the light colored hawk flew off first and several minutes later, as it the light was fading even more, the dark colored hawk followed.

Click on the image for a larger view!

Click on the image for a larger view!


Click on the image for a larger view!


Click on the image for a larger view!


Click on the image for a larger view!