>A friend (a non-birder) showed me a picture he took of a hawk near his
>home a couple miles north of Duvall, WA. The combination of distance and
>wide-angle lens makes the bird image about 1/8" even on a large print.
>
>The bird is about Red-Tailed Hawk size and shape. Coloration is
>redish-brown head well down, image too small to distinguish any other
>head/face markings. The breast and belly are very light in color,
>possibly even white, there could be a hint of a narrow
>darker band across the belly, wing and tail color indeterminate.
>
>Could this be a Swainson's Hawk in Western Washington? How rare is this
>bird west of the mountains?
>
> Ted Becker tbecker at eskimo.com (206)794-3708 Monroe, WA

I see no reason why this couldn't be a Red-tailed Hawk. Most in this area
are very reddish on head and breast, usually similarly colored on belly,
but in some cases somewhat paler on the belly. The "narrow darker band"
sounds like the typical red-tail dark belly band, and there shouldn't be
anything like that in a Swainson's. I'd be willing to look at the photo
(although perhaps with no better luck than you had, if it's that small).

Dennis Paulson
Slater Museum of Natural History
University of Puget Sound
Tacoma, WA 98416
206-756-3798
dpaulson at ups.edu