Subject: Strange Hawk
Date: Oct 13 20:42:02 1997
From: "CHRISTINE W. MAACK" - 73201.3124 at compuserve.com


Mike Price asked, re the redtail he saw with a rough-legged
hawk's characteristic nape marking:

>Is a RTHA X RLHA hybrid inconceivable in nature? Could this have been a
falconer's experiment?>

>From what I've heard. belonging to a raptor mailing list,
about hybrid experiments among falconers, a rough-legged
has never been mentioned as a candidate for creating
new blends. Except for an occasional rehab bird, I don't
think anyone uses them for falconry as they have small
feet (as Don and Tom have noted), limiting the prey they
can be flown on, and also tend to "carry," i.e. make off
with their prey before the falconer can get to them. Which
means a bird that gets to enjoy its dinner in peace, which
means a bird that is no hurry to come back to its hunting
buddy...

Chris Maack
Anchorage, AK
CMaack at compuserve.com