Migrant type: Long-distance migrant

These birds have an amazing migration that takes them from mid-west, far western region of the U.S., and Canada all the way to the southern region of Argentina every fall. That is an over 6,000-mile trip if they are migrating from Montana. They will typically leave the end of August and throughout September and return in the spring starting the beginning of April. Their path of migration narrows as the birds fly through Mexico, Texas, and Central America and causes some amazing hawk watching points in these areas.

Swainson’s hawks can be found over plains, dry grassland, farmland, and ranch areas. They are buteo hawks that highly rely on thermals for their long migration. Some birds will fast for a few days at a time to utilize days with large amounts of thermals.

They will the rest on the days with rain and lower number of thermals. While in Montana and their other breeding grounds, Swainson’s hawks feed on rodents to raise their young. When they are migrating, one of their main food sources is insects. These birds will perch on the ground, on top of hay bales, or even on a farmer’s tractor and hunt as many as 100 grasshoppers in one sitting. They are so good at hunting insects that they are even known as the grasshopper hawk.

They also have light and dark morphs in this species so watch for the tail color to tell them apart from Red-tail Hawks.