Ruth Sullivan has asked for more details on the hawk I mentioned in my
report earlier today from the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge River S
Unit that I identified as a Ferruginous Hawk. I wish I had a photograph
of this bird, but the lighting was too bad to even attempt a shot at the
time when I observed it with a couple of dozen others in the southern
field just before the drive meets back up with the restrooms and turns
back to go over the railroad tracks. Here are the field notes I made:

We (Natalie and I, along with Natalie's parents) observed the hawk from
inside our vehicle at a distance of about 80 feet. The hawk had a very
light apricot or slightly lighter breast that met with speckled
feathering below rather than a belly band of any sort, but it also had a
mostly light colored neck rather than a dark head and neck that I would
expect with a Red-tailed Hawk. The bird's tail was all light with no
terminal band. We watched it walk and then hop on its prey off to our
left in the field. During one of these lunges onto its prey, which we
couldn't make out, the light legs really stood out and looked ruffled.
There appeared to be some rufous or apricot coloring in the leg feathers.

At first glance I thought this bird was a small immature Bald Eagle, just
going from the light coloring on its head. I didn't think this was a Red-
tailed Hawk at any time.

I reached the conclusion of a Ferruginous Hawk based on the markings I
saw and reading I did upon returning home. There is a shot of a
Ferruginous Hawk in "Hawks, Eagles & Falcons of North America" by Paul
Johnsgard that is almost a mirror image of the hawk I observed, and
reading through the field marks in the section about Ferruginous Hawks in
this book reinforced my conclusion. I also knew that this bird looked
similar to Ferruginous Hawks I had seen both in flight and perched low in
trees in Eastern Washington earlier this year and that in a report sent
to Tweeters on Oct. 3, 2002, Wilson Cady reported seeing three
Ferruginous Hawks in this same field at the Ridgefield NWR River S Unit.
I didn't jump to the conclusion that this was a Ferruginous though. I had
to come home and do some reading and comparison before making the call.

Rob McNair-Huff ---------- mailto:rob at whiterabbits.com
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