Buteo swainsoni
Silhouette: Lauren Anderson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsoni) is a large bird species in the Accipitriformes order. This species was named after William Swainson, a British naturalist. It is colloquially known as the grasshopper hawk or locust hawk, as it is very fond of Acrididae (locusts and grasshoppers) and will voraciously eat these insects whenever they are available.
Their breeding habitat is prairie and dry grasslands in western North America. They build a stick nest in a tree or shrub or on a cliff edge. This species is a long-distance migrant, wintering in Argentina; it has been recorded as a vagrant in neighboring Chile, in the island countries of the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago, and in Norway.
This species or its immediate predecessor is the ancestor of the Galápagos hawk, as demonstrated by recent research. Then later diverged from the mainland birds perhaps 300,000 years ago, a very short time in evolution. Swainson's hawk is a raptor and a medium-sized member of the genus Buteo. It broadly overlaps in size with the red-tailed hawk (B. jamaicensis), a related species found as a breeding resident almost throughout North America. Swainson's hawk is on average a little... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calgary | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 2 | Denver | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Sacramento | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Edmonton | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 5 | Torreón | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 6 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 7 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 8 | Houston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | San Antonio | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Salt Lake City | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abilene Zoological Gardens | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Lee G. Simmons Wildlife Safari Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Ecological Center of Sonora | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 4 | Parque y Zoológico Nacional Arquitecto Manuel Valverde Podestá | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 5 | Phoenix Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Six Flags Discovery Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | San Francisco Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Birds of prey | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 9 | El Paso Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | The Abilene Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Santa Ana Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | Spring River Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 13 | Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Alameda Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Santacruz zoo | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 16 | Tracy Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Cosley Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 18 | California Raptor Center | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Texas State Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Lindsay Wildlife Experience | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Carolina Raptor Center | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 22 | Cascades Raptor Center | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Swainson's Hawk sighting in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park on a given day, based on 101 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 218th most-seen of the 375 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October and November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Swainson's Hawk in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park on a given day, against under 5% in December to September, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Swainson's Hawk sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
15th of 48
Of the 48 parks where we can rate Swainson's Hawk sightings, Bastimentos Island National Marine Park ranks 15th at under 5%. The best odds are in El Palmar National Park (Argentina, about 20%), Badlands National Park (United States, about 10%) and Yellowstone National Park (United States, about 10%).
Same genus: Buteo
The closest relatives of the Swainson's Hawk that you can see in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (genus Buteo, Buteos) are Broad-winged Hawk (about 10%) and Short-tailed Hawk (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Swainson's Hawk is recorded against all the birds logged in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (101 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
