Swainson's Hawk

Not sure that Flickr is showing this as my main photo today .....

Yesterday morning, 21 October 2017, I went to the Grand Re-opening of the Wild Bird Store here in the city. It is also their 20th Anniversary. Their new location is within my driving comfort zone, so I decided to go.

This beautiful Swainsons's Hawk resides at the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation and accompanied Janis while she gave a talk. It is four years old, has a damaged wing, and serves as a Wildlife Ambassador. Apparently, it gets on well with people and therefore has the right kind of personality to be trained for this important work. Quite a vocal bird, too, as we found out.

"A classic species of the open country of the Great Plains and the West, Swainson’s Hawks soar on narrow wings or perch on fence posts and irrigation spouts. These elegant gray, white, and brown hawks hunt rodents in flight, wings held in a shallow V, or even run after insects on the ground. In fall, they take off for Argentine wintering grounds—one of the longest migrations of any American raptor—forming flocks of hundreds or thousands as they travel." From AllAboutBirds.

www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Swainsons_Hawk/id

There were several other talks, one being given by Myrna Pearman from the Ellis Bird Farm and another by Chris Fisher. Both full of interesting information.

Afterwards, I decided to keep driving north, and called in at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary. I rarely go there, as it always seems a long way to drive, and I tend not to see many birds when I go on my own. I was happy to see a number of beautiful Wood Ducks and one of the Great Horned Owls, so my visit felt worthwhile.