This is a rather late posting, mostly due to verifying the identification.
Several of Maryland's top birders have now seen the images and agree on the
ID.

 

Winger West, Marcy Stutzman, and I were birding on the Maryland Eastern
Shore, Dorchester County, just south of the Hurlock Sewage Treatment Plant
on 18 Dec 2007, when we spotted an unidentified juvenile hawk, on the
ground, apparently feeding.  After many good looks, reviewing photographs,
and obtaining the opinions of several of Maryland's top birders, we have
identified the bird as a Juvenile Swainson's Hawk.  We first found the hawk
in a field, hunting, at approximately 12:30 AM and continued our
observations until roughly 1:30 PM.  The hawk flew several times for only
short distances, and ran along the ground from spot to spot to find its prey
(unidentified).  For a map reference, look at the DeLorme Maryland/Delaware
Atlas, page 43, at grid mark intersection C4.  The hawk was in a field just
north of Ennalls Road, between the south-west treatment pond and the "Old
Railroad Grade".

 

Photographs of the Swainson's Hawk can be viewed on my web site at
www.woodduck.smugmug.com <http://www.woodduck.smugmug.com/> .  You will need
to navigate within the site by first clicking on "Wildlife", and then
clicking on ""My Feathered Friends (new)".  The first seven shots on the
first page of that gallery are of the Swainson's Hawk.  Comments are
invited.

 

Dave Brenneman

Fort Washington, MD 20744