Swainson’s Hawk in the City

This photo is a little gruesome but it does capture a beautiful moment. A rare hawk in a very urban area of St. Petersburg Florida. Right in someone’s front yard , in a branch about 12′ off the ground, if it was even that high. It quite a while to identify this hawk as a swainsons hawk but I had lots of pictures, and I saw it close up so even though several field guides said that swainson’s hawk are shy creatures that live away from the city, the markings and size indicate it was indeed no other hawk but a the swainson.
Most but not all of the field guides also said the swainson hawk didn’t live in or near Florida. And during that summer I saw three of them. Of course it could have been the same one three times. Is still wonder if it was just one unusual hawk or whether changing weather patterns have changed the home range and behavior of this species. Of course St Petersburg is pretty wonderful, it even has a famous monkey running wild in it’s neighborhoods…

A swainson's hawk eating a pigeon in a tree in someones front yard.