The Swainson’s hawks that nest in Kane County may not have fledged any young this year. Bob Montgomery, who works for the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation in Dundee, discovered one nest, but saw no evidence that the birds that occupied it had any success. He did see some additional adults in other parts of the county, so there could have been one or two nests he did not find. There have been reports in the past week from local birders of an immature Swainson’s in Kane County, so one of those undiscovered nests could have been successful.
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Since then, the few records we have all come from the northern part of the state, almost all from a triangle with angles anchored in Rockford, De Kalb, and Elgin. The Kane County birds are the only known nesting population.
Swainson’s hawks are one of the species in the genus Buteo, a group that also includes red-tailed, broad-winged, and red-shouldered hawks. Buteos are built like miniature eagles, with long, broad wings and tails. The Swainson’s hawk is about the same size as a red-tail, but its wings are more slender and pointed and its tail somewhat longer and more slender. Soaring high in the air, it almost looks like a peregrine falcon.
This time of year Swainson’s hawks are gathering in large flocks all across their breeding range and beginning their migratory movement south for the winter. They make the longest migratory journey of any North American buteo, heading south through the tropics to winter on the pampas in Argentina, 15,000 miles or more from their nesting grounds.
Our tiny Kane County population gives the Swainson’s hawk a place on the endangered species list in Illinois. You will often hear arguments against the idea that we need to protect a population like the Illinois Swainson’s hawk. After all, this bird is apparently doing well over a contiguous range that extends from Alaska to northern Mexico and from Iowa to California. Does it really matter what happens to this isolated handful of birds that is somehow clinging to existence among the corn and soybeans of Kane County, Illinois?
So the IDOC can urge, recommend, and plead, but to a considerable extent our Swainson’s hawks must depend on the consciences of real estate developers for their survival. Isn’t that comforting?
