Blog

Raptor Quiz

posted by Jerry Liguori at
on Saturday, June 22, 2013 

I'm not a big quizzer, but does anyone want to ID this bird…and if you've seen the pic before, give it a few days before responding. I won't say when and where it was taken since it is a quiz and not a sighting report.

Thanks for any replies..."click" on image to enlarge

23 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk.

June 22, 2013 at 7:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Is this a possible Harlans x Rough-legged, hybrid ? The wing pattern(flight feathers) looks good for Harlans, with a somewhat defined carpal patch and the tail has some rufous in it.... Out on a limb here, looking forward to the answer !

Good blog, Mr. Liguori
Pete Gustas

June 22, 2013 at 8:00 AM  
Anonymous Dave Anderson said...

How about a Swainson's Hawk. They come in a dark phase that looks like this bird

June 22, 2013 at 12:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A dark morph Harlan's Hawk

June 22, 2013 at 5:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Agree with dark morph Harlan's Red-tail, but I'll stay anonymous too...just in case I'm wrong.

June 22, 2013 at 6:59 PM  
Blogger Jerry Liguori said...

Hah, that's funny "Anonymous"...no worries on this site, I just want people to participate and find the blog useful and fun!

June 22, 2013 at 7:10 PM  
Anonymous Ron Dudley said...

No way I'm taking a stab at this but I look forward to being enlightened...

June 23, 2013 at 5:53 AM  
Blogger Jerry Liguori said...

Ron:

I bet you know what it is! Thanks for checking out the blog.

June 23, 2013 at 5:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like dark Harlan's too. You can just catch a glimpse of what the upper tail looks like. To my eye, it's definitely got a red-tail jizz to it.

Jamie C.

June 24, 2013 at 5:01 AM  
Blogger Jerry Liguori said...

Here's a extra pic showing the top of the tail....

June 24, 2013 at 6:05 AM  
Anonymous Mike said...

I don't know. My first guess would be a Western Red-tail with some percentage of Harlan's ancestry. Second guess: a Harlan's with some percentage of Western ancestry. Third: Harlan's. Fourth: some obscure b.j. subspecies I've never seen before. Fifth: Zone-tailed (inside joke only you will get Mr. Liguori)

June 24, 2013 at 2:54 PM  
Blogger Jerry Liguori said...

Mike

You are correct with one of those, it is an adult Harlan's. And thanks to those who find my website interesting!!!!

June 24, 2013 at 3:49 PM  
Anonymous Jerry Liguori said...

Forgot to mention

Its an adult Harlan's because of the uniformly dark underside with mottled flight feathers. The second photo shows a Harlan's tail pattern, although the blackish tailed types are uncommon compared to the other types.

June 24, 2013 at 8:58 PM  
Blogger Bryce said...

Ah, I caught this late. What a bird though... And cool molt in the primaries... I dream about finding birds like this. Maybe someday.

June 26, 2013 at 11:02 PM  
Anonymous Jerry Liguori said...

Yes, Bryce....you can learn a lot from that particular pattern of the 2 generations of adult feathers. And I will blog about it so everyone can read it. It is worthy of an article but I have no time for it.

Thanks for reading

June 27, 2013 at 8:44 AM  
Blogger Kim Lopez Lolihawk said...

Is it a juvenile zone-tailed hawk?

July 18, 2013 at 10:23 AM  
Blogger Jerry Liguori said...

Hi Lolihawk,

It does look similar to a juvenile Zone-tailed Hawk, a very good guess. I should have mentioned that it was photographed in Northern Utah, that would have helped people. It is an adult Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk, but a tough one since it is not a common tail type.

July 18, 2013 at 12:31 PM  
Anonymous Matt Finch said...

At first I was looking at the secondaries and thought it might be a juvenile Common Blackhawk. but the rest to me screams Harlan's Redtailed hawk. Cool example!

August 2, 2013 at 7:24 AM  
Blogger Jerry Liguori said...

Thanks Matt

It is a neat example, I agree!

August 2, 2013 at 11:03 AM  
Blogger Bob said...

I'm late to this show. I'll just call it a Red-tailed Hawk. Beyond that I'm up for any explanation.

August 4, 2013 at 9:41 AM  
Blogger Jerry Liguori said...

You are correct Bob, an adult Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk

August 4, 2013 at 10:13 AM  
Blogger Bob said...

That bird would shake a lot of people up at eastern hawk watches. It is a stunning bird.

August 5, 2013 at 7:55 PM  
Blogger Jerry Liguori said...

Oh yeah, this individual especially, but they are still classically Red-tailed shape so you would catch it as a Red-tail

August 5, 2013 at 8:06 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Back to Previous





Powered by Blogger

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]