Hey Missbird,
Before heading over to Oxford to meet up for the afternoon outing, I wanted to
cruise the Tunica area for hawks. If anyone hasn't noticed yet, I have gone
down the rabbit hole that is Red-tailed Hawk subspecies ID. Yesterday was not
disappointing with 5 subspecies and multiple morphs represented. My strategy
has been to target the aquaculture areas where the hawks really seem to stack
up. My target areas were Fish Lake Road and Little Texas Road in Tunica County.
On the way down Highway 3, I spotted a glorious dark morph Western Red-tailed
Hawk at the Tunica Dump. The dark morph Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk was still
present on Nelson Rd. Fish Lake yielded the most diversity with 4 subspecies
of Red-tailed Hawk (Krider's, Harlan’s [light morph], Northern, and the
nominate Eastern). Little Texas Road didn’t produce much in the way of hawks,
but at least 4 WESTERN MEADOWLARKs were present. On the way back north on
Highway 3, another Northern Red-tailed Hawk was perched in a tree on the side
of the road.
In summary: Tunica was holding 5 subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk, both color
morphs of Harlan’s, and a dark morph Western Red-tailed Hawk.
Checklists with Pics:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34948471 ;
<http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34948471> (Tunica Landfill)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34948747 ;
<http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34948747> (Nelson Rd)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34949436 ;
<http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34949436> (Fish Lake Rd)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34950030 ;
<http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34950030> (Little Texas Rd)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34951442 ;
<http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34951442> (Hwy 3 and Coldwater River
Levee Rd)