My wife and I saw this bird on Nov. 19th, unfortunately we did not see
any underwing pattern either. And we were only able to observe it for a
very short period of time due to some non-birders on the Tour Route that
honked because there was no room to pass us. We did notice that the legs
were feathered to the feet which led us to think it is a
Rough-legged/Ferruginous type buteo. When we observed it was also on the
ground only and near the same area that Ed and his wife saw it.
Wilson Cady
Washougal, WA.
gorgebirds at juno.com

On Mon, 4 Dec 2000 18:07:38 -0800 "kane" <kane at wolfenet.com> writes:
> My wife and I birded the auto tour route at Ridgefield NWR (River 'S'
> unit) on Sunday, midday. The most intriguing bird was a white morph
> buteo watched in the mowed field behind the entrance kiosk. At
> least I think it was a buteo. My guess is that it was a white morph
> juvenile Red Tail Hawk of some sort. The back contained more white
> mottling than a typical juvenile Red Tail, though I thought I could
> still make out a 'V' pattern. When in flight I thought the tail had
> the typical juvenile Red Tail patterning. Pure white feathering
> began at the chin and extended down to some scattered brown
> streaking on the very lower belly, approaching the vent. This bird
> made several short, low flights but mostly stayed on the ground in
> the large mowed grass field. I was unable to see the underwing.
> There were a number of other birders around but no one felt
> confident of the species.
> Has anyone else seen this bird? Any comments?
>
> Ed Kane