John,

Your bird looks clearly to be an adult "Harlan's" Red-tailed Hawk. The
grayish tail with a bit of rufous, the splotchy white on the upper breast,
the bill size, and the lack of feathered tarsi all point to Harlan's.

Good documentation.

Bob

Bob Sundstrom
ixoreus at scattercreek.com
Tenino, Washington

----- Original Message -----
From: "John W. Williams" <jwwdvm at comcast.net>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>; <obol at lists.oregonstate.edu>
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2006 10:17 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Photos of Ridgefield NWR Hawk


> The hawk that has been reported as either a Harlan's Red-tail or a
> Rough-legged Hawk has been bugging me since I saw it last weekend, so I
> went
> back late today and took a few photos. For various reasons, these are
> poor
> quality, but I would love to here what the consensus is from birders with
> more experience than I on separating these two. I've posted some of the
> photos at:
>
> http://www.featherphotography.com/gallery/oddends
>
> John Williams
> Battle Ground, WA
> www.featherphotography.com
> jwwdvmATcomcast.net
>
>
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