Birds on a Wire: Swainson's Hawk

The Swainson's Hawk is a Western United States raptor whose population unfortunately is in decline.  It can easily be mistaken for a Red Tailed Hawk, especially in its juvenile stages. Like the Red Tailed it uses telephone poles as perches, but unlike Red Tails, it prefers insects to rodents, snakes, and other birds (though it will occasionally take those animals, especially in the early summer). It hunts from its perch, by soaring over grasslands, and by running around on the ground.