Prest Road Hawk

[neepgrin]

After many days of trying to capture a reasonable shot of this tricksy hawk, I discovered it has taken to hunting off McGuire rd and was much easier to photo than on busy Prest. Finally with good pictures I spent many hours pouring thru descriptions of hawks on the net and my birdy book......I think it is a Rough Legged hawk, Dark morph female perhaps as the chest is lighter than the belly. Is it an adult or immature, there doesnt appear to be a dark terminus on the underside of tail?? Alto it does appear in flight to have a dark edged tail...... Sorry no shots of the underside of the wings in flight, but it would only cooperate so far.

Any input would be great.......thanks

[neepgrin]

actually I found a distance shot of the underwing, same bird, same locale, different date. I've been trying for a clear picture of it for a while. lol

thanks again for any thoughts on this hawk's true nature.



Happy birding, neepgrin

[Gord]

Hi Neepgrin!

That guy is a Harlan's Hawk which is a subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk. At one point this subspecies was considered to be a separate species from Red-tailed Hawk. Most of them breed in Alaska and Yukon I believe. Thinking about Rough-legged Hawk is not a bad idea though. One thing to check, when possible that is, is the legs. A Rough-leg would have feathers right down the leg to the feet, maybe thus the name (but I might have suggested a Feather-legged Hawk for a more suitable name to which Im sure a raptor would object as it would not match the claws, hooked beak and glare. "Rough" is much better! ;D )

Ive seen this guy off and on this winter as well. I hadnt for a few days and wondered if it had left.

Great work documenting this guy. There is no doubt what it is thanks to the great photos.

[neepgrin]

Thanks very much Gord. These raptors are vexing at times.

[murraybrown]

Neepgrin, that is the same bird that Thor and I puzzled over last winter I believe. It was in the same general area and looked sort of like a Rough-leg but had the body structure of the Red-tail.
I think we finally concluded it had to be a Harlan's as Gord has said but thanks to your pictures it now is conclusive.
Thanks,
Murray