Congratulations, Lyn, on a great find!

>From Brian K. Wheeler's Raptors of Western North America, traits of a
juvenile Swainson's include:

- yellow or pale greenish cere
- medium brown irises
- medium brown or dark brown crown
- pale supercilium that connects to pale forehead
- narrow dark eyeline
- pale auriculars
- dark malar mark that extends onto the sides of the neck and breast
- pale throat with dark center streak

Traits of a juvenile dark intermediate morph include:

- dark patch on the malar, side of the neck, and breast is large and often
wraps around the front of the breast as a mottled bib
- for a "streaked type" (vs. a "dark-bellied type"): belly and forward
flanks are heavily streaked and rear flanks are densely covered with large
dark arrowhead- or diamond-shaped markings and wide barring on the inner
portion of the longer rear feathers

The bird in your photos appears to satisfy these traits.

You can eliminate Red-tailed Hawk due to the lack of a dark patagial mark on
the underside of the leading edge of the wings. Although it is hard to tell
from your photos, it also appears the wings relative to the tail are too
long for Red-tailed, and good for Swainson's.

This past week at nearby Ridgefield NWR, immature Swainson's Hawk was
written on the white board at the check-in station, although no details were
given. (One was also reported last winter, if memory serves.) Hopefully
this is a bird hanging out in Clark County this winter.

For those not familiar with Wheeler's raptor guides, they are an excellent
resource for US raptor identification -- beautiful photos, very detailed
range maps, extensive written descriptions, and excellent details about
comparing similar species.

Scott Carpenter
Portland

On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 11:08 AM, Lyn Topinka <pointers at pacifier.com> wrote:

>
> hi groups ... HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!!!!!!!!! ... I'm sitting here sniffing
> cooking turkey while I work up yesterday's images taken at Shillapoo
> Wildlife Area, south of Vancouver Lake ...
>
> here's an odd marked Hawk ... odd to me anyways ... when I shot the images
> I assumed Red-tailed ... however, looking at the images now I realize I've
> never seen a Red-tailed with these type of markings ... I'm referring to the
> high dark patches by the neck and all the white markings on the head,
> especially the white "eyebrows" meeting above the nose and under the eyes
> ... under-the-wings also doesn't look like a Red-tailed ... looking at
> pictures online and through the books, I'm thinking perhaps this is a
> juvenile Swainsons ??? ... however, none of the range-maps in the books show
> the Swainsons in this area, especially at the end of November.
>
>
> http://columbiariverimages.com/Birds/HoldingPen/hawk_shillapoo_wildlife_area_11-26-08.html
>
> help please ??? ... have I seen my first Swainson's or is it just an
> odd-marked Red-tailed ??? ...
>
> thanks,
> Lyn
>
>
>
>
> Lyn Topinka
> http://EnglishRiverWebsite.com
> http://ColumbiaRiverImages.com
> http://RidgefieldBirds.com
>
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