Red-Tailed Hawk

[Bird-Boys]

Seen at Huasna, CA on 3/12/20. Obviously this is Red-Tailed Hawk, but it seems dark, no?

[The Bird Nuts]

Looks like a normal Red-tailed to me.

[AlexHenry]

Red-tailed Hawk is correct. They are very variable in plumage, and can be much darker or much lighter than this.

[Bird-Boys]

Right, Thanks!

[AlexHenry]

They can also be bright rufous below, my favorites!

Like this one (random photo off internet): https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdybird2010/8370814835

 

[Bird-Boys]

2 minutes ago, AlexHenry said:

They can also be bright rufous below, my favorites!

Like this one (random photo off internet): https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdybird2010/8370814835

Very Cool! 

[Jerry Friedman]

I think we have to call your bird an intermediate morph, but I don't remember ever seeing one that color, and I've been following the Raptor Id group on Facebook for a while.

[Melierax]

Looks like a normal Red-tailed Hawk. Westerns tend to be quite a bit darker than Easterns, and I'm just not seeing enough rufous wash to call it an intermediate. 

[Tony Leukering]

2 hours ago, Jerry Friedman said:

I think we have to call your bird an intermediate morph, but I don't remember ever seeing one that color, and I've been following the Raptor Id group on Facebook for a while.

Intermediate Red-taileds  are strongly reddish below with a wide black belly patch

[The Bird Nuts]

9 hours ago, Melierax said:

I'm just not seeing enough rufous wash to call it an intermediate. 

Agreed.

[Bird-Boys]

Thanks!

[Jerry Friedman]

12 hours ago, Tony Leukering said:

Intermediate Red-taileds  are strongly reddish below with a wide black belly patch

So this is an unusually dark light morph?  Or just more evidence that the three-morph system doesn't do justice to the variation of western Red-tails?

[AlexHenry]

Seems like a pretty normal Red-tailed Hawk that is being overanalyzed...

And yes, I agree that the three-morph system doesn’t work that well, I see it as more of a spectrum of darkness with no real distinct morphs

[The Bird Nuts]

The breast and belly look pure white to me.  The photo is dark.  Maybe that's why it looks dark to some people.  It also might have a dark throat.

[Tony Leukering]

4 hours ago, Jerry Friedman said:

So this is an unusually dark light morph?  Or just more evidence that the three-morph system doesn't do justice to the variation of western Red-tails?

I think that, IN RED-TAILED HAWK, the "three-morph" system works reasonably well, as long as one allows for some variation. This is biology! However, in my experience, rufous morphs seems relatively straightforward, though with a little slop on the dark end toward black morphs. Light morphs, in my mind, have more room for variation, but I have still never seen a bird that looked intermediate in any strong fashion between light and rufous morphs.

Now, in Swainson's Hawk, I think that the system is useless. I've studied some 10s of 1000s of the things and cannot put anything like sharp lines bounding the three "morphs."

[AlexHenry]

1 hour ago, Tony Leukering said:

I think that, IN RED-TAILED HAWK, the "three-morph" system works reasonably well, as long as one allows for some variation. This is biology! However, in my experience, rufous morphs seems relatively straightforward, though with a little slop on the dark end toward black morphs. Light morphs, in my mind, have more room for variation, but I have still never seen a bird that looked intermediate in any strong fashion between light and rufous morphs.

Now, in Swainson's Hawk, I think that the system is useless. I've studied some 10s of 1000s of the things and cannot put anything like sharp lines bounding the three "morphs."

How about birds that are intermediate between light and dark, but are not rufousy?

[Jerry Friedman]

2 hours ago, Tony Leukering said:

I think that, IN RED-TAILED HAWK, the "three-morph" system works reasonably well, as long as one allows for some variation. This is biology! However, in my experience, rufous morphs seems relatively straightforward, though with a little slop on the dark end toward black morphs. Light morphs, in my mind, have more room for variation, but I have still never seen a bird that looked intermediate in any strong fashion between light and rufous morphs.

Thank you.

[Jerry Friedman]

3 hours ago, The Bird Nuts said:

The breast and belly look pure white to me.  The photo is dark.  Maybe that's why it looks dark to some people.  It also might have a dark throat.

They don't look that way to me.  There's actual white in and around the belly-band that's noticeably lighter than the tan breast and belly.