Dark hawk from Iona

[Gord]

Came across these photos again from JohnV that he got from the road to Iona near the Vancouver Airport this March.

The last idea of its identity has been a Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk but several things on this bird do not seem quite right especially the size, proportions and what seems to an interesting tail pattern. Ill wait on comments before I weigh in further.

Nice work, John.

[oldfulica]

Good morning
I would think there are 2 possibilities. Rough-legged is out of the question because the legs are bare. That leaves Harlans or Red-tailed. The dark eye suggests it is an adult. I would think there might be more white streaking on the chest for Harlans. Some leaves seem to obscure the tail so I am not sure what the pattern is there but it seems very dark. Are the white spots leaves or actual color?? I would think a Harlans would have some paleness to the tail. However Sibleys shows the wingtips of a Harlans not reaching the tail tip and this bird appears to have short wings. This would indicate a Harlans. My guess (inconclusive) is a very dark adult Red-tail but I wish I could get a better look at the tail. Of course it may be a mixture of both.: > )
Nice looking bird though.

[Gord]

Len, those are what I thought of too, and are certainly the most possible. It's certainly an adult bird. That tail looks interesting. It does not look like a typical Harlan's hawk tail but Sibley's does show that some adults infrequently have a banded tail like this bird seems to display. BUT, is that a white or black tail tip?

A hybrid between Harlan's and a dark Red-tail wouldnt surprise me. A good thought.

Too bad there was not a flight shot obtained, but that's the way it goes. Sometimes a hawk will sit in a tree for an hour before deciding to take flight! Kudos to any birder who waits a bird out for the flight shot (not sure if that could ever be me). ;D

The other species I considered was Broad-winged Hawk. This guy does seem a little on the small side and the lack of any white feathers is interesting. However, any form of Broad-wing would be amazing; for it to be the more rare dark phase would be doubly amazing. But, never rule something out based on range. I think we've all seen plenty of birds well outside of the area indicated on our field guide's map! ;D

[oldfulica]

Yes..if we had a better look at the tail it would be great. Some other Hawks to consider are Short-tailed Hawk of Central America and Common Blackhawk which could range up from the south into the Southern States. Very unlikely it's one of these but the comparisons are very similar. It's fun to speculate.

[ryjay]

I've seen this Hawk wintering at Iona for atleast 2 consecutive winters, I usually find it at the Macdonald Beach parking lot, so hopefully it will be back this winter. I always considered it a Dark Phase Red-tail, but yes Harlan's is also a possibility.

[Gord]

Ryan, great info. If you see it again, see what you think. Im interested about that tail!

[ryjay]

The Hawk ID may be finalized. Someone posted pictures on the BCVAN birds message group a week ago, and I guess a group of hawk Identification experts went out to take a look, they identified it as a Harlan's Hawk, based on the tail. The hawk is almost always found around the Macdonald Beach parking lot vicinity. For anyone who is ever in the area and wants to judge for themselves.

[Gord]

The tail tells all! ;D

Thanks for sharing, Ryan. Seems our ideas were right! Neat how they come back to the same area year after year.