Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk?

[Carma Sue Henry]

Went out to see who chased off all the yard birds and found this fellow sitting in the tallest snag.  Sorry the pic's not better.

If it's a Red-tailed (right size), it seems like it might be one of the dark form juveniles.  Chest stripping is really dramatic.  It never turned around so we didn't get a look at the tail.  I'm not used to seeing those white streaks going down the chin and throat from either side of the base of the beak, though.  It's so dark that I thought it might match the Harlan's form, but Sibley indicates they are rare here.  However, I think I remember other folks talking about Harlan's around here.  Definately too big, and no eye stripe, to be a dark form Merlin, though we do see those frequently.  Any ideas?

The last few days the Quail family is down to about 6-7 coming in at any one time, compared to the 12-14 from last week.  I don't know if it's natural for the family to break up this time of year or 

if they've been hit with disease or predation.  When we find feathers from a kill it's still usually doves.  We hope some of them stay around and raise another family next year.  It's been an incredible treat to watch a family of baby quail grow up.

Carma Henry

Logsdon Ridge

[nsto...@gmail.com]

Carma--

I'm getting an immature Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawk vibe from this bird, even without seeing the tail. I'm not sure how to articulate it: head/body proportions just don't seem bulky enough for a buteo like a Red-tailed (relatively small head and long body).  Immature female Cooper's could seem pretty big looking up at it backlit against the sky, and immatures of that species often show a contrasting white throat.

My two cents--

Nancy Stotz

[olin...@earthlink.net]

I tend to agree with Carma on this – a Harlan’s-type red-tail.  It just seems waaaaaay too heavily streaked and too black-and-white to be an accipiter.  Even sharpies, more heavily streaked than coops, don’t look nearly this streaky from the throat all the way down to the feet, and they also look much warmer – browner – than this bird.  However, the photo is very contrasty and so may be deceptive with regard to color.  And yes, there was a Harlan’s in the Suver junction area for a number of years, although I haven’t seen it recently.

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[Carma Sue Henry]

Thanks Olin.

I was thinking it was much too large to be either the Cooper's or Sharpie.  We see them frequently, sometimes right on the patio at the water.  A couple of regular colored Red-tails are also frequent visitors, they all like this tallest snag and perch there often, so we are pretty confident about the size difference.  The Red-tails we usually see are much lighter and red/brown in appearance, which made this one stand out as really unusual.  Yes, the photo is poor, but those chest stripes were quite dramatic and the sides and back, what we could see of them, were quite dark.  If you feel it's a good fit, I'd like to put in on my life list as, at least, a 'probable' Harlan's. 

Thanks,  Carma

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