Swainson's Hawk
Buteo swainsoni
- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Cordats)
- ClassAves (Aus)
- OrderAccipitriformes
- FamilyAccipitridae (Accipítrids)
- GenusButeo (Buteos)
- SpeciesButeo swainsoni (Swainson's Hawk)
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. Wikipedia →
<5% of wildlife watchers report a Swainson's Hawk sighting in Iberá National Park, based on 8 days of visitor records from GBIF citizen-science data.
Closest Relatives at Iberá National Park
White-tailed Hawk
Buteo albicaudatus
Long-winged Harrier
Circus buffoni
Roadside Hawk
Rupornis magnirostris
Snail Kite
Rostrhamus sociabilis
Savanna Hawk
Buteogallus meridionalis
Black-collared Hawk
Busarellus nigricollis
Great Black-Hawk
Buteogallus urubitinga
Cinereous Harrier
Circus cinereus
White-tailed Kite
Elanus leucurus
Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle
Geranoaetus melanoleucus
Gray-headed Kite
Leptodon cayanensis
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Accipiter striatus
📅 Monthly Probability
☀️ When They're Spotted
Most active during daytime hours (6am–6pm) · across all parks (global)
Global Distribution
Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.
where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is) · parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there
Parks Where Found
Quick answers
What are the chances of seeing a Swainson's Hawk in Iberá National Park?
About 0% of wildlife watchers report a Swainson's Hawk sighting in Iberá National Park, based on 8 days of visitor records from GBIF citizen-science data.
When is the best time to see Swainson's Hawk in Iberá National Park?
February has the highest sighting rate for Swainson's Hawk in Iberá National Park in our monthly data.