It is known that adult Harlan's Red-tails often have unbanded, mottled, or a mix of unbanded/banded remiges (primaries and secondaries), but of course there are exceptions to EVERY rule. Here are a few Red-tails that show varying degrees of banding to the remiges. The first 3 are adult Eastern Red-tails (the 2nd bird shows several Krider's traits). The 4th bird is a juvenile Western that also had a tail pattern simlar to the remiges (broken bands that create a mottled effect). The last 2 are adult Harlan's for comparison. Just thought I'd show these for future reference...I have a bunch of examples from my own collection, but it is valuable to show that others are documenting this stuff too. Collaboration is important!
4 Comments:
Derek Lyon said...
Every time I go on your site I find out new things, even for a long time hawkwatcher like me. I've never seen any kind of markings on any remiges for any Eastern birds! How rare is it?
Thank you Derek, coming from you that is great to hear. It is the exact reason I started a blog...I really want to get things out an share them that I feel are unworthy of a print article but can be seen or sighted somewhere. Unfortunately, I think most of my blogs will get lost in time fairly quickly.
It is uncommon for sure on non-harlan's but not a one-time thing apparently. How frequently can't be answered unless a massive effort to document a huge proportion of Eastern birds was completed, and that ain't happening....
Jerry, you have said many times in your books, articles, and blog that there are exceptions to every rule, but seeing the exceptions really drills the point home. Neat stuff as always!
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4 Comments:
Every time I go on your site I find out new things, even for a long time hawkwatcher like me. I've never seen any kind of markings on any remiges for any Eastern birds! How rare is it?
Thank you Derek, coming from you that is great to hear. It is the exact reason I started a blog...I really want to get things out an share them that I feel are unworthy of a print article but can be seen or sighted somewhere. Unfortunately, I think most of my blogs will get lost in time fairly quickly.
It is uncommon for sure on non-harlan's but not a one-time thing apparently. How frequently can't be answered unless a massive effort to document a huge proportion of Eastern birds was completed, and that ain't happening....
Love all of your comments!
Jerry, you have said many times in your books, articles, and blog that there are exceptions to every rule, but seeing the exceptions really drills the point home. Neat stuff as always!
Thanks Marc! I like seeing the exceptions too, people send me weird stuff all the time.
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