Hi Tweets,

>(HEY, I DIDN'T WRITE THIS!!!) - be a little more careful, please! :) :)
>
>I think it was Jon who wrote it.

Aaack!!! Don's right, he was quoting Jon. Apologies all round.

>As far as you're redtail question, I've never seen that mark in all the
>'tails I've banded and observed during migration over the year. Did it
>maybe fall into a paintpot? :) I don't imagine you have any photos, do
>you, it sounds like an interesting bird.

Unfortunately, not, I had just my bins, no camera. Next time I run into her,
I'll ask Evelyn Whiteside if she might have some shots of it that show this
mark: it really is quite noticeable and well-outlined, exactly like a
dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk's nape-mark in exactly the same place. Clark
says that nape-mark's diagnostic of RLHA, but unless this bird's one in a
million, that may have to be qualified. Also, this bird was different to the
usual run of 'calurus' Red-tails around here, being very crisply marked, an
indistinct but definite white 'V' on the back, and having a bone white
ground to the underparts setting off the dark arrowheads of the belly-band.
The tail had a dark subterminal band with about five or six very thin dark
bands within the red of the tail. Any ideas as to possible subspecies, Don?
Is a RTHA X RLHA hybrid inconceivable in nature? Could this have been a
falconer's experiment?

Michael Price We aren't flying...we're falling with style!
Vancouver BC Canada -Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
mprice at mindlink.net