BUZZARD HAWKS 
V2$ 
juvenile plumage is very similar to many young Red-tails; above, dark brown; below, 
white slightly tinged with buff, and variably striped with dark on flanks and across breast. 
Perhaps the most characteristic adult coloration shows mostly light below, whitest on 
throat, with a broken, or continuous darker band of some shade of brown across the breast. 
The dark phase, when complete, is uniform dark brown similar to the corresponding 
plumages of the Red-tailed and the Rough-legged. 
Distinctions. Separated from the Rough-legged by the bare instead of feathered 
tarsi (like Figure 178, instead of 190). Distinguished from the Red- tailed by slightly 
smaller average size and by having three instead of four first primaries emarginate, and the 
third and fourth (not the fifth) equal and longest, forming the tip of the wing and making 
the wing slightly more pointed than that of the Red-tailed (Compare Figures 188 and 189 
with 184 and 185). Though both species are so variable in colour that some plumages are 
difficult to separate, there are certain distinctions that can usually be observed. In the 
Swainson’s Hawk the dark markings are concentrated or aggregated across the breast 
instead of across the abdomen, leaving the latter the lightest part of the under surface 
(Compare Figures 189 and 1S5). In the Red-tailed the converse is the rule. This distinc- 
tion is less pronounced in juveniles and, of-eourse, is entirely absent in the extreme solid 
black phase. 
Small juveniles can be distinguished from the Red-shouldered Hawks by their having 
three instead of four emarginate primaries. 
Figure 188 
Three notched primaries of Swainson’s Hawk; scale, 4. 
Swainsou’s Hawk is much larger than the Broad-winged and the emargination of the 
primaries will separate it from the larger Accipilers, such as the juvenile Goshawk which 
has five feathers emarginated (Compare Figure 188 with 185). 
Field Marks. A large buzzard hawk with wings slightly more pointed than the 
Red-tailed (Figure 189). Wide range in colour, from near-black and white with varying 
amounts of cream, dull ochre, and reddish to solid and complete near-black. Usually with 
Figure 189 
Swainson's Hawk; scale, T * ff . 
Appearance in flight of most characteristic plumage. 
more or less of a darker breast-band making the abdomen the lightest part of the under 
surface. It is rarely as extensively white below as the lightest of the Ferruginous Rough- 
legs, nor are the pantaloons as deeply rufous. The tail is never markedly white or red 
and is usually somewhat regularly barred. Another point of distinction from the Rough- 
legged Hawk is that the base of the inner webs of the primaries do not lighten enough to 
show white on the upper surface of the wing in any normal flight attitude (See Figure 
194). 
