Subject: Re: Peregrine Falcon
Date: Aug 03 06:47:35 1998
From: Don Baccus - dhogaza at pacifier.com


At 06:13 AM 8/3/98 -0700, Andy Stepniewski wrote:

> Oh ya---the ROUGH-LEGGED
>> HAWKS are starting to show up. We saw three yesterday in areas we have
>> not seen any for quite some time.
>
>An early August arrival of Rough-legs in north-central Washington is
>improbable. Could you have been seeing Red-tailed Hawks?

I agree with this. We don't even start our fall migration counts
until August 15th, and won't expect to see rough-legs until September.
That doesn't mean a few early migrants aren't moving - we don't start
until we're on the toe of the rampup (determined by studying years of
data), but multiple rough-legs already hanging out? I mean, this
early you're lucky to see sharpies moving, much less the big 'ole
buteos, which mostly move late.

Still, a few buteos, particularly red-tails, move very early.

> Many in immature
>plumage show lots of white, even appearing to have a whitish rump patch
>(actually uppertail coverts).

This fools a lot of people, particularly at places like the Goshutes
where you are often looking down on redtails that glide by in very late
afternoon, after the winds and thermals have died and they've lost
lift. Looking down, these juvies can show a surprising amount of white
from the uppertail coverts, and visitors who are unused to this perspective
often thing they must be seeing something other than a red-tail because
of it.




- Don Baccus, Portland OR <dhogaza at pacifier.com>
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