Larry, this isn’t a picture of a bird you saw in Harney County. This is a bird
Kim Boddie photographed in Lake County. It is a Rough-legged Hawk. Look at
the tail. No Swainson’s Hawk has a primarily white tail with a black
subterminal band. Look at Brian Wheeler’s Raptor books and you will see
similarly plumaged birds identified as adult male Rough-legged Hawks. Do a
Google search on “adult male Rough-legged Hawk” and look at the pictures. Here
are a few examples:
http://www.jkcassady.com/gallery/rlha8.htm
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stubirdnb/8323453375
http://hawksaloft.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/cimmaron-the-rough-legged-hawk-small.jpg
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/PHOTO/LARGE/rlhawk_rognan.jpg ;
https://download.ams.birds.cornell.edu/api/v1/asset/24920851/medium
https://www.terrysteelenaturephotography.com/blog/ ;(4th picture down)
You are right, this is not a typical Rough-legged Hawk, of which the vast
majority that come down to Oregon in winter are immature birds with white heads
and dark bellies. But a small percentage of Rough-legged Hawks share this
plumage. As earlier noted, a Swainson’s Hawk in Eastern Oregon in winter would
be big news, rarer than a white phase Gyrfalcon.
Tom Crabtree, Bend
From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ;
Larry Cottrell
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2017 10:39 PM
To: obol
Subject: [obol] Re: obol Digest V6 #36
I just wanted to let you all know that I invalidated this reported mid-winter
Swainson's Hawk:
<http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S28532897>
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S28532897
These "bibbed" type of adult male Rough-legged Hawks are frequently
misidentified as Swainson's, as is the case here. If anyone has questions
about the ID, I'm happy to get into further detail.
Thanks