i saw the same bird, and i'm sure it's a rough legged hawk. the cere is yellow. there is a light patch running from the edge of the cere to each eye. there is a terminal dark band on the tail. the shape of the bill appears to change depending on whether he fluffs his face feathers out, seems to shrink in half. he is gorgeous.

regards,

t

> -----Original Message-----
> From: chukarbird at yahoo.com
> Sent: Sun, 28 Jan 2007 20:36:06 -0800 (PST)
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
> Subject: [Tweeters] Carnation Dark Morph Hawk
>
> Hi Tweeters,
>
> I saw the dark morph hawk today after a successful run
> for the Rusty Blackbirds. Thank you to Patrick
> Sullivan for the great play by play of the Rusty
> locations. He could really keep you on the bird if
> you lost it.
>
> The hawk I saw was definitely a Red-tailed Hawk it was
> near the bridge on 203 near NE Tolt Hill Rd. Very
> dark brown solid from the top of the head to the the
> undertail coverts, no markings at all on the front. I
> did not see the back but there was no dark band on the
> tail like a Rough-legged would have. The bill was
> right for Red-tailed, eyes dark.
>
> I birded a few other places nearby, walked along the
> Carnation Marsh (owned by Seattle Audubon) on W
> Snoqualmie road and heard a Barred Owl calling from a
> distance away. I was ever hopeful for a Swamp Sparrow
> which I did not find but the nice consolation was 2
> Virginia Rails foraging out in the open in 2 seperate
> locations.
>
> Kathy
> Roosting in S King County
>
>
>
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