Swainson's Hawk - Portrait. Swainson's hawk (Buteo swainsoni), is a large Buteo hawk of the Falconiformes, sometimes separated in the Accipitriformes like its relatives. This species was named after William Swainson, a British naturalist. It is colloquially known as the grasshopper hawk or locust hawk. Swainson's hawk inhabits North America mainly in the spring and summer and winters in South America. Photo taken at the World Bird Sanctuary in St. Louis, Missouri.