[wisb] Re: Dark raptor photos
- From: Erik Bruhnke <birdfedr@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: adam0227@xxxxxxx, Wisconsin Birding Network <wisbirdn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:44:22 -0600
Adam,
Nice shots of that gorgeous dark morph raptor! The raptor species you
photographed is an adult male dark morph Rough-legged Hawk. Rough-legged
Hawks and Red-tailed Hawks (the dark morphs) can be quite tricky to tell
apart, but your pictures provide enough detail to identify this bird.
Rough-legged Hawks can show a black-and-white barred tail (seen in the
adult males). Dark morph Red-tailed Hawks will show the light-brownish and
black-barred tails as juveniles, and will have varying degrees of reds as
adults (Western Red-tailed Hawks tend to show a rufous tail with many fine
dark bars going throughout the length of the tail... and even trickier, the
NW Canada & Alaska-breeding Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk can have sections of
red, brown, white, black, etc, throughout adult tails, with some adult
Harlan's tails showing no true rufous at all)! Harlan's Red-tailed Hawks do
come in a dark morph.
In addition to the black-and-white barred tail, your bird has a thick
terminal band, or outermost region of the bird tail. I have some fun shots
of dark morph Rough-legged Hawks in flight, but no extra sharp close-up
shots showing the tail feature I am talking about. Below is a heavily
cropped photo of a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk showing the barred tail,
with the bold terminal band and barred tail (adult male) - just like your
bird!
http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/image/133667981
Keeping it simple, your bird has the black-and-white barred tail with the
bold terminal band, in addition to a tiny bill and very compact-looking
feet. Rough-legged Hawks have proportionately-smaller bills and feet than
Red-tailed Hawks do. It's a subtle difference, but something I personally
keyed-into over the past four years of working at Hawk Ridge. My thoughts
on this feature are that for an arctic-breeding bird, having smaller
extremities (such as beak, legs and feet) will work to the bird's
advantage, to minimize heat lost due to the restricted surface area of
these soft parts. Rough-legged Hawks also have a lot of "fluff" that covers
up their feet when perched, to keep the feet warm.
Hope this helps. Good birding, and merry Christmas!
Erik Bruhnke
Waukesha, WI (Usually Duluth, MN)
--
*NATURALLY AVIAN* - Guided Birdwatching Trips and Bird photography
www.pbase.com/birdfedr
www.naturallyavian.blogspot.com
birdfedr@xxxxxxxxx
Hi all,
I was cruising southern door county and came upon this dark raptor. I wasn't
able to look at it long enough to get a positive ID but was able to snap a few
photos while it was flying away. It was big raptor and when looking at the
photos the underwings weren't boldly white so I ruled out Dark morph
rough-legged hawk. My first guess is a dark morph red-tailed hawk, but an not
well-versed in differentiating between the different races. I don't believe it
to be a golden eagle but I'm still learning my bop's.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/asinkula/6560496595/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/asinkula/6560495467/in/photostream/
Any help would be appreciated.
Adam Sinkula
Green Bay - Brown County
####################
You received this email because you are subscribed to the Wisconsin Birding
Network (Wisbirdn).
To UNSUBSCRIBE or SUBSCRIBE, use the Wisbirdn web interface at:
//www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn
To set DIGEST or VACATION modes, use the Wisbirdn web interface at:
//www.freelists.org/list/wisbirdn
Visit Wisbirdn ARCHIVES at: //www.freelists.org/archives/wisbirdn
Other related posts:
