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May 6, 2010

Swainson's Hawk

This bird had me scratching my head today when I saw it. I couldn't decide if it was a Red-tailed Hawk or a Swainson's Hawk. The tail doesn't look like a mature Red-tailed Hawk's tail to me. There's too much banding and no sub-terminal tail band. Also, I don't see the dark semi-circular patagial marks on the leading edges of the wings. But, what threw me was that this bird does appear to have a distinct dark "belly band". So, I wasn't sure and checked with the experts at Whatbird.com. Turns out that this is an intermediate morph of the Swainson's Hawk, as indicated by the "white front/throat, dark tail, white rump".

Categories: Photos, Birds, Hawks

Posted by Rob Kiser on May 6, 2010 at 10:15 PM

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