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Swainson's Hawk is a buteo, meaning it is a typical hawk or "buzzard," very similar to Red-tailed and Ferruginous Hawks, and very different from our familiar Cooper's Hawk. Swainson's Hawks, like most buteos, are highly variable. They come in light, intermediate, and dark morphs, and juvenile birds retain their juvenile plumage for two years before molting into the quite different adult plumage. Our bird appears to be a second-year intermediate-morph individual. Swainson's Hawks spend their summers (i.e. breed) in the open spaces of the American West, from the Pacific Crest eastward across the Great Plains. There is an isolated breeding population in the northern Central Valley and our bird may have been heading in that direction. Swainson's Hawk is a long-distance migrant; in spring, nearly the whole population of Swainson's Hawks migrates from Argentina to North America. It's hard to believe that our bird had flown from Argentina! Interestingly, a specimen collected in 1827, illustrated by William Swainson, was confused with the common buzzard of Europe. In 1832, Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a nephew of Napoleon, corrected the error, and named the new species after Swainson. In Beaumont, we are just west of the normal migration and breeding range of Swainson's Hawk, so the bird observed by the Birding Club on May 4 is somewhat unusual, but much more likely in a young bird, such as ours, making its first northward migration. ~ Steve Edelman Birding CLUB Bird of the Month The Birding Club welcomes beginning and experienced birders to start or hone bird identification skills. Our main activity is a monthly bird walk along Four Seasons' nature trails, which follow native riparian woodlands. We keep a list of all species observed at Four Seasons, and take seasonal field trips to nearby birding hot spots. Our May 4 bird walk produced a total of 26 species and some wonderful observations. The highlight was a Swainson's Hawk, a Four Seasons first record (species #89) and our Bird of the Month! We had two other bird walk firsts, meaning they had been previously observed at FS, but not during a Club bird walk: Wilson's Warbler, a migrant heading north, and a Great Horned Owl, which was being mobbed by a murder of American Crows (a group of crows is called a "murder"). We also counted seven singing Bell's Vireos and eight Yellow Warblers, which are breeding in increasing numbers as our restored riparian habitat matures. We meet on the first Saturday of the month at 8 am at the Potrero Creek (Trail A) trailhead at The Lodge parking lot. Email steve.h.edelman@gmail.com for current schedule and information. ~ Steve Edelman FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JUNE 2019 37 On our recent hike, we saw amazing flowers and had a great workout. We hike the third Wednesday of the month. For more information, email Lynette at lynette.simonson@gmail.com (951) 377-0392. ~ Lynette Simonson TAKE A HIKE CLUB Right to left: Maureen Ochi, Howard Ochi, George Newsome, Steve Edelman, Lynette Simonson, and David Kershaw who was behind the photographer Above: The FSBC birding the overgrown trail at the lower marsh – lots to look at! Photo by Steve Edelman Left: Second-year, intermediate- morph Swainson's Hawk in flight over Four Seasons on May 4, 2019. Photo by John Hansen, Birding Club member and Photography Club co-leader Below: Another shot of our May 4 Swainson's Hawk. Photo by Dave Kettering, Birding Club member

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