The Argentinians return

Swainson’s Hawks have one of the longest known migrations of any raptor. After wintering in Argentina, they spend their summers on the Great Plains where they mate before heading south again.

On Friday I saw my first Swainson’s of the season and she was not a very pleasant one. In fact, she was dive-bombing a Great Horned Owl nest which of course made the female owl very upset as her little ones had just hatched. Unfortunately I failed to capture the hawk and the nest in the same frame of any of my pictures. 🙁

In this series though, you can see the hawk swoop in and take a swipe at the nest below. Scroll down to view the entire sequence.

Taken in Thornton, Colorado.