Swainson's Hawk
Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the North American Swainson's hawk.
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Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the North American Swainson's hawk. About the size of the European buzzard, Swainson's hawks are dark-brown birds, rusty brown on the chest and white on the belly, and a familiar sight across open farmland and prairies of western North America where they soar effortlessly in search of prey. Most winter in South America, this epic round-trip of around 20,000 kilometres is probably the longest regular migration made by any American bird of prey. When they reach their wintering grounds they switch diet. In North America they feed mainly on mammals, but in South America, they gather in flocks to hunt dragonflies and grasshoppers in the vast pampas plains.
Producer : Andrew Dawes
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Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsoni)
Webpage image courtesy of Diana McAllister / naturepl.com
NPL Ref 01343726 © Diana McAllister / naturepl.com
Recording of Swainson's hawk by William W. H. Gunn / Ref: ML 59299
This programme contains a wildtrack recording of the Swainson's hawk kindly provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; recorded by William W. H. Gunn on 17 May 1961, in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Broadcasts
- Fri 3 Oct 201405:58BBC Radio 4
- Thu 10 Sep 201505:58BBC Radio 4
- Wed 31 Jul 201905:58BBC Radio 4
- Mon 5 Oct 202005:58BBC Radio 4
- Wed 31 Aug 202205:58BBC Radio 4
- Sun 27 Aug 202308:58BBC Radio 4
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