Swainson's Hawk

How to find it

Look up for large kettles of soaring raptors during migration. Swainson's Hawks often mix with Broad-winged Hawks and Turkey Vultures, and a sighting depends on timing and weather. The best conditions are between 7:30 am and 1 pm, with birds flying between about 375 and 2,500 metres above the ground. At Kèköldi, the raptor tower is reached by a hike of about 45 minutes uphill from the main road. In the Pacific lowlands, check open farmland, plowed fields and dry forest edges, where burning sugar cane fields attract hawks hunting the fleeing insects. Guides often treat hawks leaving open fields in February as the first sign that northbound migration has started.

How to recognise it

Swainson's Hawk is a large, slim hawk with long wings and pointed tips. Learn the plumages in plain steps:

Light adults: brown above, with a brown chest, white throat and pale belly.

Dark morph adults: all dark brown below, with a pale or barred patch under the tail base.

Young birds: pale to buff below, with dark streaking on the chest.

From below, look for a two-toned underwing, with pale linings against dark flight feathers. Few other buteos have flight feathers this dark. A Costa Rican raptor guide describes it the same way: long, pointed wings, pale underparts and black flight feathers underneath. The tail has fine bands. In flight it holds its wings slightly raised in a shallow V. Perched, the folded wingtips reach the tail tip.

What it sounds like

Recording: elinpierce, CC0 1.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

On migration these hawks fly in flocks of thousands and soar on thermals. They flap little, using the first warm air columns of the day to climb and then gliding along long thermal highways, so expect high, distant birds. They often mix with Broad-winged Hawks and Turkey Vultures. At Kèköldi a flock of over 2,000 was seen perched during heavy rain, and a few were recorded flying in it. They eat mainly insects, especially grasshoppers, plus small mammals. In Costa Rica they use dry season fires to catch prey that flee the flames.

Where it lives

Swainson's Hawk uses open country such as grassland and farmland, and in Costa Rica it is also reported over savanna. On migration it passes over both mountains and lowlands. It travels mainly along the northern Caribbean slope, especially in spring, and over the mountains of the central and southern Pacific side. A few stay for the northern winter, which is rare and irregular, in the Pacific lowlands of Guanacaste and the Térraba region.

When to see it

Autumn migration runs from late September to November, and the spring passage from late February to early May. At Kèköldi, Swainson's Hawks peak in late October to early November, later than Broad-winged Hawks, which peak in late September and early October. Pacific lowland winterers were seen between December and March.

Similar birds

Broad-winged Hawk has a similar wing shape, but it is much smaller with black and white tail bands, while Swainson's is longer winged and more elegant. Red-tailed Hawk has broader, rounder wings, and adult light Red-tails have a band of belly streaks that Swainson's lack. Costa Rican guides say big migrating flocks are mostly Broad-winged Hawks, Swainson's Hawks and Turkey Vultures, so check each bird against these three.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican sources call it Gavilán de Swainson, and some raptor-count papers use Aguilucho Langostero, roughly 'locust hawk'. In news and local writing the migrating hawks are often called gavilán pajarero, a name used for the thousands that pass the San Carlos lowlands in September and October. The Bribri people of the Caribbean slope perform a dance in which dancers form a circle, representing the daily circling of migrating raptors.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a migrant (M), Costa Rica is mostly a passage route with few wintering birds, and the IUCN lists it globally as Least Concern.

Photography tips

Hawks drift on warm air columns, and the best viewing is between 7:30 am and 1 pm, so expect high, distant birds. At the Kèköldi tower they also perch in the early morning and late evening, which gives closer chances.