Swainson's Hawk!

Though most of the yesterday's flight was slow, it ended with the great surprise of a captured Swainson's Hawk, a species that has only been captured twice before in about 40 years of banding at Hawk Ridge. It was originally spotted by the counters (I'm not sure who exactly) and called over to Nova as a bird to keep an eye out for. Miraculously, she was able to bring it down, allowing for a nice show at the overlook for everyone here for Hawk Weekend. There are only 10 or so even seen each fall, so to catch one is quite the rare event.

Pre-release




Upon release