On Mon, 20 Oct 1997, Rob Saecker wrote:

> Actually sounds more like a black morph than Harlan's to me. Quoting from
> _Hawks in Flight_, re immature Harlan's: "A light chest and throat are
> always present..."; the entire front of a black phase bird is dark. And
> black phase is more likely to have no scapular marks than Harlan's. But
> without more details it's going to hard to be sure. I'm going to try to get
> out there to have a look, but don't know how soon I can manage it.

saw a *black* morph once, but it had deep orange
bands on its tail..RT 35 pp. 96 Wheeler & Clark,
A Photographic Guide to N. American Raptors

I went out to NWR yesterday to try and find this bird..
found two very handsome garden-variety Adult Western
redtails, but no dark morph..

Tom