[obol] Potential Krider's red-tail? in Linn County

From: "Moore, Randy" <Randy.Moore@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2015 21:38:41 +0000

Tom et al.,

Just for the record, I agree with Tom about being hesitant to call this bird a
Krider's, and I hope that came out in my initial description. But of the
marks that I could see, it leans towards Krider's more than light Harlan's.
Specifically, it's tail is pretty extensively reddish and didn't appear heavily
barred (which is apparently more common in Krider's or Krider's X's than in
Harlan's), its head is so extensively white that it's quite hard to see any
dark markings at all, and its really modest belly band is made up quite fine
streaks. The latter is really the only feature that shows well in the crappy
cell-phone-through-the-scope photos that are the first 3 pictures here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rannymo/ Those pics make it look much more like
a white gyr than any flavor of red-tail, but I promise, it's not :)

Unfortunately, I didn't get a solid look at the bird's underwings, and that
could go a long way towards answering the question. So somebody get out and
get some pics of this bird- it'll probably hang around for awhile, as the field
it's in appears to have a great food supply (if the # of other raptors present
is any indicator).

Oh, and for those interested, the ABA has a couple of really nice articles on
separation of these two forms of red-tails:
https://www.aba.org/birding/v42n2p30.pdf
https://www.aba.org/birding/v42n2p38.pdf

saludos,
Randy
Corvallis

----------
Msg: #8 in digest
From: "Tom Crabtree" <tc@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [obol] Re: [Fwd: [birding] horned larks, Krider's red-tail?, lapland a
Date: Sat, 28 Nov 2015 10:32:48 -0800

Joel & Randy,

I would hesitate to call a light Red-tail a â€œKriderâ€™sâ€ anywhere in
Oregon. That subspecies has never been documented west of the Rockies. A
light-phase â€œHarlanâ€™sâ€ is much more likely. I havenâ€™t seen the photos,
so I canâ€™t compare it to the Harlanâ€™s Iâ€™ve been seeing near Culver the
last three years. I would pass them on to Brian Sullivan, Brian Wheeler or
Jerry Liguori for an expertâ€™s opinion on the bird. If it is a
â€œKriderâ€™sâ€ it would be a history making one.

Tom Crabtree, Bend

From: obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:obol-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Joel Geier
Sent: Friday, November 27, 2015 2:18 PM
To: Oregon Birders OnLine
Subject: [obol] [Fwd: [birding] horned larks, Krider's red-tail?, lapland and
chestnut-collared longspur, Linn County]

-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: Moore, Randy <Randy.Moore@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:%22Moore,%20Randy%22%20%3cRandy.Moore@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx%3e> >
To: birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:%22birding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx%22%20%3cbirding@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx%3e>

Subject: [birding] horned larks, Krider's red-tail?, lapland and
chestnut-collared longspur, Linn County
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2015 06:45:46 +0000

Good Thanksgiving Day of Linn County birding! And what a great day
weather-wise....

* In the not really very big field to the north of the intersection of
Seward and Country Rds in Linn County: There was a raptor bonanza- 8
red-tails, 7 Harriers, 3 rough-legs, 9 bald eagles all eating the same sheep, a
few kestrels. It was fun. One of the red-tails was intriguing. Until I saw it
fly, I was convinced that it was a straight Krider's red-tail; super pale on
the head, bright white on the underparts, very light belly band with very
skinny streaks- classic. White stippling on the back was prominent, but maybe
not as much as I'd expect from classic Krider's. Then I saw it fly after it got
chased by a raven who wanted the vole it was eating: pretty starkly red tail,
though a little lighter than a normal red-tail. I didn't see the patagial bars,
so I couldn't tell if they were reduced, but it was very pale on the underwings
as well. I'm going to try and attach the very bad pictures I got through my
scope with my phone. Interested to hear what you all think about
this bird. I'm still thinking it's at least a Krider's X.

* In the field to the southeast of this intersection (bounded by Country,
Seward, McLagan), there was a flock of 100 or so pipits and, conservatively
estimated, 320 horned larks which makes it the largest flock I've ever seen in
the valley. Also 3 more rough-legs. No snow buntings in the flock, but there
were at least 2 L. longspurs and 1 male chestnut-collared longspur with a (wee
bit of black showing on the chest). The birds were on country road across the
from the intersection of church/country and just after all the longspurs showed
themselves, the entire 400+ birds flew out into the middle of the clover field
and wouldn't come back anywhere near the road. But you could still see all 3
longspurs, although probably the only reason I could pick the CCLO at that
distance was because I knew it was there already. If you go look and the larks
are close enough, check their legs for bands! I'd love to hear about them if
anyone sees bands.

Randy
Corvallis

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[obol] Potential Krider's red-tail? in Linn County

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