Red-tailed Hawk ssp.

[smittyone@cox.net]

Seen this afternoon in western Iowa.  Is this adult Red-tailed Hawk a light-morph Northern (Buteo jamaicensis abieticola) ?

[Avery]

Here’s my guess: dark patagials, heavy globular breast band, dark throat, dribbled malar, white in the UpTC, and banding in the tail point to abieticola

Edited March 23 by Avery

[chipperatl]

3 minutes ago, Avery said:

Here’s my guess: dark patagials, heavy globular breast band, dark throat, dribbled malar, white in the UpTC, and banding in the tail point to abieticola

I concur

[smittyone@cox.net]

See?  and you guys didn't think I was retaining any of this Red-tailed Hawk info, huh.

[Charlie Spencer]

One day I'll have to buckle down and at least learn which sub I'm seeing here.

[Snake Fingers]

6 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said:

One day I'll have to buckle down and at least learn which sub I'm seeing here.

The procrastinator part of me: “one day, one day… after I learn warblers of course. Which I’ll do tomorrow, actually the day after… you know, the day after that would work better.” 

[Jerry Friedman]

8 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said:

One day I'll have to buckle down and at least learn which sub I'm seeing here.

Almost all Eastern.  Once in a while you might see a more colorful, heavily marked Northern or... wait for it... Florida subspecies.

[Charlie Spencer]

10 hours ago, Jerry Friedman said:

Almost all Eastern. 

Thanks, although I'm not going to start marking that sub on my checklist without knowing the differences.  Same as Butterbutts; I'm almost sure I get only one kind here but I'm not marking either way until I know how to tell them apart.

So much to learn...

[Jerry Friedman]

2 hours ago, Charlie Spencer said:

Thanks, although I'm not going to start marking that sub on my checklist without knowing the differences.  Same as Butterbutts; I'm almost sure I get only one kind here but I'm not marking either way until I know how to tell them apart.

So much to learn...

I don't see any reason for you to report Red-tails as Eastern or Yellow-rumps as Myrtle.  But if you see a Red-tail with a mostly dark throat or unusually heavy markings and warm colors, or a a Yellow-rump with a yellow throat or a throat patch that doesn't wrap around the auriculars or no white supercilium, you might want to let us or your eBird reviewer know.