Subject: Krider's Red-tailed Hawk over Wapato WA
Date: Oct 13 21:34:46 1997
From: "Andy Stepniewski" - steppie at wolfenet.com
Tweeterites,
On Saturday afternoon (10 October), a cold northwesterly wind blew and
signalled (raptors seem most conspicious when a north or northwest wind
blows over Rattlesnake Ridge) it was time for me to hike up Rattlesnake
Ridge north of Wapato WA. Just as I was leaving the orchards and entering
the wilderness (where introduced cheatgrass and other weeds mantle the
rimrock and slopes), I noticed a soaring raptor. My first reaction was a
Ferruginous Hawk: a large Buteo, with a whitish tail and striking whitish
patches near the base of its primaries. Fortunately the soaring bird came
closer and wheeled about allowing a better study. This was no Ferruginous,
but a Red-tail, based simply on structure and flight style (it also had
distinct patagial marks). But what kind of Red-tail? Study of all the
raptor guides I have yielded nothing conclusive save the Wheeler and Clark
Photographic Guides (to North American Raptors) photo of a juvenile
Krider's. But this was no juvenile, as the tail was quite whitish, with
only small smudges of dusky coloration. Dunne, Sibley and Sutton's Hawks in
Flight don't illustrate the hawk I observed, but their description of an
adult Krider's matches my bird: "on adult or immature birds, large white
upperwing patches situated on the flight feathers just short of the slotted
wing tips are distinctive and obvious. Apart from its pale tale, Krider's
is, pure and simple, a Red-tail with large white patches on its
upperparts-tail and wing tips." They go on to state Ferruginous is similar
in the pattern of these whitish patches, but has a different shape.
This was my first Krider's, a race of Red-tail that breeds in the upper
Midwest of the U.S. and southern prairie provinces of Canada.
Are there other reports of this very striking hawk in Washington?
Andy Stepniewski
Wapato WA