There are lots of examples of birds that vary from the "norm", so I thought I would show a few raptors I have encountered with unusual plumages.....I have too many to show here and now so sorry, but hope this is interesting ("click" on images to enlarge).

An adult Red-tailed Hawk that nests in Utah with Harlan's-like whitsh mottling on the chest. I have seen several examples of Western Red-taileds with this trait.

Dilute plumaged juvenile Red-tailed Hawk from 1999 at the Goshute Mts., Nevada. Cream-colored birds such as this are better described as "dilute" than leucistic (which means white).

Adult borealis Red-tailed Hawk at Gunsight Mt., Alaska from April, 2009. Not an odd plumage, but significant to note that a fair number of borealis and calurus occur in Alaska.

Leucistic adult Harlan's Red-tail from Idaho (2004, left) and a recent photo of a bird that is possibly the same bird from Oklahoma (?).

Juvenile Merlin that lacks multiple tail bands, this occurs from time to time. Photo taken many years ago at Cape May Point, NJ.

Adult Rough-legged Hawk that could be considered an "intermediate" morph, photographed a few years ago in Utah in winter.

Juvenile Rough-legged Hawk that could be considered an "intermediate" morph, photographed a few years ago in Utah in winter.

Check out this juvenile dark-morph Swainson's Hawk with a white-based, dark-tipped tail? Photographed along the Wasatch Mts, in Utah one September day a ways back. Most likely an aberrant tail and not a hybrid. I have seen a few examples of this....

Note the dark chest on this juvenile Ferruginous Hawk...how do we explain this? A fairly dark head (and eye) for a juvenile as well. Is this an intermediate-morph, who knows?

  

An unusually heavily marked juvenile Broad-winged Hawk from the Keweenaw Peninsula, MI. These markings are purely juvenile, not adult markings due to molt, however, the primaries with dark tips on the right wing are new adult feathers.

  

Adult Broad-winged Hawk taken last week at the Keweenaw Peninsula, MI  with a white belly. This makes for a beautiful bird!

 

Juvenile Broad-winged Hawk from the Wasatch Mts., Utah with an adult-like tail. I have seen several examples of this and several juveniles with a dark trailing edge to the wings (similar to adults) but with juvenile body plumage. Why? I have no idea, just chalk it up to variation.

Juvenile Northern Goshawk from spring 1994 at Braddock Bay, NY. Why does it have a brown eye when it is supposed to have a pale yellowish eye?

Nearly completely dark Northern Harrier photographed in February 2008 at Farmington Bay, Utah. Of course I wish it were closer, but them's the breaks. Only 4 or 5 "dark" Harriers have been seen in North America.

Adult male Northern Harrier (Farmington Bay, winter 2004) with rufous highlights in the tail and upperwings coverts. Just an odd variant.

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk with dark streaks on the undertail coverts similar to Goshawks....it happens. Photographed in October 2007 along the Wasatch Mts., Utah.

Adult Cooper's Hawk with white eye? Photographed at the Goshute Mts., Nevada several years ago.

Adult Cooper's Hawk (second-year) with unusual, widely-spaced barring on the underside from the Goshute Mts., Nevada September, 1998.