At 8:25 AM -0700 6/23/04, Bud Anderson wrote:
>Hi,
> Interesting bird. Are there any more photos available?

Interesting indeed. More photos would be a great help, if there are any.

> If the lengths of the primaries are portrayed accurately, then the third
>longest (instead of fourth) would make it a dark morph juv. Swainson's Hawk.
>This is the only western buteo with that feature.
> The head shape is not typical of a Ferruginous Hawk and I am not able to
>see the gape extension (under the eye) in this photo. Tail barring is not
>right either. Check out the cover on Wheeler's new book.

Well, Bud knows more about hawks than I do, by far. But, I have a
real hard time buying Swainson's; even a light morph Swainson's
should have darker flight feathers than this bird shows. A dark morph
body with those stunning white wing and tail feathers? Doesn't work
for me; and there's nothing in the old Wheeler and Clark that
suggests a Swainson's with that much white in that location.

As for the head shape, I have to agree. I initially wrote that off as
just the angle of the photo, but after closer inspection, I'm not so
sure.

At 4:59 PM -0700 6/23/04, Charlie Wright wrote:

>As a juvenile, this bird will have even broader wings later in life.

How do you make it a juvenile, Charlie? I admit, that's my impression
as well, but I can't say I could defend that with specifics.

>Aside from the bill, Ferruginous Hawks again have more pointed wings,
>particularly at the tips I believe. Their remiges are essentially pure
>white, not as well marked as this bird. A bird with a dark head and blotchy
>body like this would be most unusual as intermediates apparently don't occur
>in this species. Dark morphs are uniform chocolate-brown, while light birds
>have pale, rusty heads and are essentially white from below.

As far as the wing shape, I thought you made a great point in your
first paragraph, when you commented about not being able to
accurately determine feather length from one photo. I would argue
that the same logic applies here: you can't make that fine a
distinction from this photo. As for the marking, see Wheeler and
Clark, p. 103, FH07. And unless I misunderstand your comment about
remiges, I believe you're incorrect. Note that all the Ferruges
pictured in Wheeler and Clark have some degree of marking in the
primaries and secondaries; none of them are pure white.

>Harlan's Hawk is a possibility that hasn't been brought up. Identifying
>juveniles of this subspecies from dark Red-tails is extremely difficult. The
>mostly unbarred outer primaries are not typical for pure Harlan's, however a
>slight intergrade would be difficult (impossible) to rule out. The more I
>look at it, though, the more it just looks like a strange Red-tail.


And: At 5:12 PM -0700 6/23/04, Guy L. Monty wrote:
>Please have a look at page 92, photo RT23 in Wheeler and Clark's "A
>Photographic Guide To North American Raptors".
>thanks,

You know, I saw that after sending my reply to you. However, the text
under that photo describes Harlan's as "Overall color blackish...",
and the bird in question appears to have a fair amount of rufous.
Which could could lend weight to Charlie's suggestion of and
intergrade. But it just looks wrong for Red-tail, to me.

So there you have it: I don't know what it is. :)
--
Rob Saecker
Olympia
rsaecker at thurston.com