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A Remarkable Flight of Sparrow Hawks

J. Eugene Law

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While travelling north on the Santa Fe Railway above Albuquerque, New Mexico, along the Rio Grande River, in the late afternoon of September 13, 1914, an enormous flight of Western Sparrow Hawks (Falco sparverius phaloena) was passed. Thousands sailed by in a continuous stream, all working leisurely south, often a hundred or more in sight from the car window at one time. Individuals frequently alighted on convenient trees and telegraph poles, and all seemed on the lookout for food. The flight seemed to be confined to the vicinity of the river and its adjacent thickets of rank weeds and willows interspersed with stretches of green meadow and alfalfa.

A very few larger hawks were seen, but whether migrating with the Sparrow Hawks, or not, could not be determined. Of these, a Prairie Falcon, a dark Swainson Hawk, and a male Marsh Hawk were identified.

As no specimens were taken it is probably presuming to state positively that these were the Western variety. Why shouldn't they be Eastern, or even both Eastern and Western, drawn together from a vast expanse of barren territory along the converging tributaries of the Rio Grande River, and held in a concentrated flight by the grasshoppers and mice so abundant in this oasis strip?

Travelling south along the Rio Grande river on the morning of September 15th, two days later, in the vicinity of Rincon, New Mexico, some two hundred miles farther south, not a trace of this flight was left. Or had the birds not yet arrived?

Hollywood, California

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