#1082 · 🐦 birds

Swainson's Hawk

🇳🇱 Prairiebuizerd ·Buteo swainsoni

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 in Europe, not in NL

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Fred Hochstaedter · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
2. © C. Stewart · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Jef-B · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Steven Mlodinow · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © Jonathan Eisen · CC BY 4.0
6. © Jonathan Eisen · CC BY 4.0
7. © Steven Mlodinow · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. © Blake Weis · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. © Steve Thompson · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
10. © Elke Davis · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

Swainson's hawk ( Buteo swainsoni ), is a large Buteo hawk 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.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 34,044iNaturalist observations
weight 1.1 kgadult, up to
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
34,044 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs up to about 1.1 kg.
Scientifically named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1838 (188 years ago).