News

Birders Find Swainson’s Hawks

IDNR biologist Dan Kirk photographed this young Swainson’s hawk while banding it in its Kane County nest. Our region hosts the only population east of the Mississippi.

This spring, the Swainson’s Hawk Project began its first field season. Volunteer teams are combing 35 study sections of 25 square miles each in the northwest sector of Chicago Wilderness. The effort has yielded tired arms, stiff necks—and sightings in eight of the study areas. Four pairs of this state-endangered species have been located, and the fieldworkers continue to search for others. Birders have found that at least some of these hawks have moved to new ground (their former territories are threatened by development), but don’t know whether they'll be able to breed there.

— Judy Pollock

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