Bud,

Thank you for this response. Your information was very appreciated. I
am now confident, that with adequate views, I could seperate these
forms/morphs in the field.

I can confirm from personal experience that "Harlan's" are especially
sensitive to human activity/presence. A typical "Harlan's" spent the
1994-95 winter in my neighborhood (Two Rivers County Park) and I invested
a great deal of time stalking this bird with long distance optics before
I was able to confirm it's identity. It returned briefly in late October
1995, but I haven't seen it since.

The "Krider's" which has been wintering along SR 397 in east Kennewick
since the 1994-95 winter appears, if anything, to be more tolerant of
human activity/presence than the typical Red-tailed Hawk, often perching
on street lights along a busy street.

Have you any suggestions as to where this bird probably spends the
nesting season?

Thank you again,

Dennis K Rockwell, Kennewick, Washington denniskrockwell at juno.com

On Mon, 03 Jan 2000 13:49:15 -0800 Bud Anderson <bud at frg.org> writes:
>Tweeters,
> I hope everyone has had a chance to look at Jerrys excellent photos of
the light-morph Red-tailed Hawk from >eastern Washington. The series
shows all of the field marks required to identify it as a light-morph
Harlan's Hawk, >one of the rarest hawk forms in Washington. First, the
bird is a Red-tail because of the obvious dark patagial
>marks on the underside of the wing. The odd tail shows it is an unusual
Red-tail, not a typical adult (brick red) or >typical immature
(transverse light-brown, dark brown bars). Instead, the dorsal tail
surface shows the
>longitudinal, intensely white patterns so often seen in the harlani
form. Since the vast majority of Harlan's Hawks >are very dark in
overall body plumage, this light-plumaged form can be confusing when you
first see it.
> It has been suggested that this might be a Kriders form, but it lacks
the pure white head, its patagials are too >pronounced and dark and the
tail surface is not overall pinkish in color. Probably the best place to
compare the two >forms is in Clark and Wheelers "A Photographic Guide to
North American Raptors". Several photos show the >differences quite
clearly. Again, for west-siders, there is one of these birds (almost
identical to Jerrys pictures) on >the Samish Flats, near the Rhododedron
Cafe. It was seen there again two days ago and I am sure will winter
>there. All Harlan's Hawks in Washington are migrants. They breed in
Alaska and Canada but are typically >"philopatric". Like many raptors,
they return to winter in the same place, even the same perches, year
after year. If
>you find one here, you can usually expect to see it every winter from
then on. They are so unique (tail pattern), that it >is possible to
identify individuals, and for me, it is always nice to get to know a
specific hawk.
> On the Skagit, there are two different places where I have seen two
Harlan's sitting together in the same tree. >Also, A.C. Bent was the
first one to point out that they seem to be shyer and less tolerant of
humans than our local >red-tails. That has certainly been my experience
as well. It is tough to get close to most of them.
> Thanks for the excellent photos Jerry,

>Bud Anderson Falcon Research Group Box 248 Bow, WA 98232
bud at frg.org (360) 757-1911

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