Swainson's Hawk? (1 Viewer)

[Jon.Bryant]

I was recently in Ecuador and saw a hawk south of Loja. The bird (shown in the images below) showed wing and tail molt, so was obviously not a juvenile.

The bird looked rangy (long winged) and my immediate impression was of Swainson's Hawk. New outer tail feathers show a dark bar at the tip and fine barring at the base, and the presumed replaced secondaries, appear darker that the remaining paler and finely barred secondary feathers. These features would also seem to support the ID of an immature (but not juvenile) bird.

Swainson's Hawk is quite scarce in Ecuador, so confirmation (or an alternative identification) would be appreciated.

 

[birdmeister]

I hope someone will reply who has more extensive experience of Neotropic raptors. My take is that I'm struggling to see anything other than Swainson's. I think most of the resident species with that sort of plumage don't share the very long and tapered wings of Swainson's.

 

[Jon.Bryant]

Thanks for the reply.

I showed the photos to a few local bird guides, who couldn't put a name to the species. In my twisted logic, I think this means it is unlikely to be a 'normal' Neotropic raptor. I think that Swainson's is quite rare in Ecuador, which probably explains the guides' problems with identifying the species. Suggestions from the guides were White-throated Hawk, immature Snail Kite and Broad-winged Hawk - all of which I think I can exclude.

 

[kb57]

I see eBird have scattered records throughout Ecuador, with the main wintering area looking like Uruguay and northern Argentina - so entirely possible that its migrating through at this time of year - existing records seem to be either November or February to April. I also see from Hilty it migrates in large flocks through Colombia September to November.
I've got very little experience indeed with Neotropical raptors (or Nearctic ones for that matter...), so I can't really contribute anything substantive, but IMHO it does look good for Swainson's.

 

[Jon.Bryant]

I see eBird have scattered records throughout Ecuador, with the main wintering area looking like Uruguay and northern Argentina

Thanks for the confirmation, and yes, I understand that once they pass through Central America and onward through Colombia, they travel south-south-east to Argentina. The 'Birds of the World' range map, shows migration down through the middle of Colombia, down into Brazil, with the western edge of the migration route cutting across North East Peru. Once in Brazil the route is through the country to Argentina. The migration route is therefore east of Ecuador.

As you say, there are scattered records from Ecuador on Ebird, but mostly from the north and around Quito. This makes sense, as these birds will be only a little bit off course. However, there is only one (spring) record south (and west) of Loja, and only a handful of records from North-west Peru. These birds will have wondered further from the main migration route, which diverges eastward the further birds go south. But for such a long distant migrant, it does not seem ridiculous to think that they are a scarce migrant through the area, rather than a true vagrants. Lack of observers (or lack of looking for diurnal migrants) probably makes the species appear scarcer than it really is.