2nd hawk ID ... Idaho, USA (1 Viewer)

[LesleyS]

Here's the send one ... thanks again!

 

[spacepilot]

Dark morph Rough-legged Hawk?

 

[steveo]

I think the beak is a to large to be a Rough-legged Hawk. How about either Red-tailed or Broad-winged? Dark morph

 

[Bird Hard 2]

I'd say that this was a juvenile Harlan's Hawk.

 

[JANJ]

I'd say that this was a juvenile Harlan's Hawk.

Looks like that:

http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/HRLH.html

JanJ

 

[ceasar]

The problem is that the Harlan's Hawk is uncommon to rare in Idaho and only in the winter and is very sparsely distributed there at that time; whereas the "Western" Red-tailed Hawk is common throughout Idaho and a year round resident. A dark intermediate morph or dark morph 'Western" is easily confused with a dark morph Harlan's. I wish we had a better view of the tail of this bird. Even with that, the pale iris indicates that the bird is a juvenile so the tail might not be indicative of either.

According to Wheeler's range map (p345 Western Ed.) Harlan's Hawks have been seen in limited areas in winter in the Coeur d'Alene and Lewistown areas and in the areas around Mountain Home and Pocatello/Idaho Falls, as near as I can determine from the map.

A question for Lesley: Was this picture taken near any of those areas?

For those interested in looking at photo's of dark morph juveniles of both species (and getting even more confused) see plates 406, 407 and 408 of Dark Morph Western Red-tails and plates 414 and 415 of dark intermediate morph Harlan's and plate 415 of a dark morph Harlan. These are in the (Western Edition)of Wheeler's, Raptors of Western North America.
Cordially,
Bob