At 9:45 AM -0700 8/3/98, Jerry Converse wrote:
>
>The last one of the day that we saw was about 12 miles East of Grand Coulee,
>WA. The bird was hovering. We have seen Red-tailed Hawks work slope lift,
>but not hover like a Common Kestral, or Rough-legged Hawk. Do Red-tailed
>Hawks hover?
>
>Juvenile, intermediate, male, female, dark-morph, pale,etc.--grrrr. :-)
>
Jerry,

I'll add my two cents' worth here, and further your confusion: all the big
buteos up here do this. Swainson's, rough-leg, red-tail, and ferruge, I've
seen them all hover. I agree with Jack that red-tails need a stiff wind,
and add that in my experience, an immature is much more likely to be trying
it than an adult. I can't say that I've seen any of them do it in dead
calm, though I would think Swainson's would be as capable as rough-legs.
And then, there is the possibility, however remote, that what you saw was a
white-tailed kite...