We just found a juvenile Ferruginous Hawk hunting the massive rye grass field
along the east side of Davis Rd. between Bell Plain Rd. and Green Valley Rd. We
are roughly 3/4 of a mile north of Green Valley and about 400 yards north of
the beat up solitary pinkish house that sits by itself on the west side of the
road. The bird has been hanging about halfway between the road and the distant
tree line to the east and has been at least a third of a mile away. The light
angle makes for good scope views even at a distance. The bird has large white
patches at the base of the primaries on the dark brown upper wing, shows a lot
of white on the base of the tail and might be initially mistaken for a
Rough-legged Hawk. However, the underparts are entirely white and the terminal
tail band has some rusty tones when the sun hits it. The underwings are mostly
pale and there is no dark wrist patch like what is shown by a Rough-legged.
We’ve been here studying Horned Larks for about an hour and the hawk has been
here the whole time. I called it a Rough-legged initially, then the light went
on in my head about twenty minutes ago when I started thinking about how much
white was flashing on the upper wing. We refound it and confirmed its actual
identity.
Dave Irons and Shawneen Finnegan
Sent from my iPhone
