Swainson's Hawk

Image from http://www.whatbird.com

Last night I attended my first Kane County Audubon Society meeting. Bob Morgan from Loyola University presented his research on the Swainson's Hawk. This hawk is quite common in the western United States, but as you can see from the range map above there is a small dot in northern Illinois where the Swainson's Hawk has lived for many decades. Our farm just happens to be within this range dot, although the bulk of Swainson's Hawk sightings have been near the town of Huntley which is 7 miles to the north of our farm. Sightings have been as far south as Johnson's Mound Forest Preserve in Elburn, which is roughly 7 miles to the south of our farm. Bob's research in the last 6 years has shown a trend that the Swainson's Hawk nests are moving further to the north and east, undoubtedly due to development in that area. One nest that was reliable in the early years of his research was found in a group of woods near the Huntley Outlet Mall just off of I-90, one of the major interstates to Chicago. That nest sight, however, was lost in recent years as more development encroached onto the territory. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Swainson's Hawks around our farm this year.