Ferruginous, Swainson's or Red-tail?

[David Stephens]

I saw this beautiful hawk soaring to hunt, circling my area two or three times. After a minute or so, it flew off, gaining height. It's tail feathers were shaped more like a harrier than most red-tails. I've seen dark morph pictures of Ferruginous and Swainson's that look much like this, but some of my friends are saying it's a red-tail. The bib made me initially think it's a Swainson's, since many Swainson's have bibs and none of the pictures I see show two colors of brown at the head and bib area. It is a large bird, easily at the large end of the red-tails that I regularly see.

Any help is appreciated.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8388/8567428326_c6fb2f78f8_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcstep/8567428326/)
Dark Morph Ferruginous Hawk (?) flies over. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcstep/8567428326/) by dcstep (http://www.flickr.com/people/dcstep/), on Flickr

[David Stephens]

I've found several images of a Harlan's Red-tail hawk variant. Could that be it?

[John Chardine]

Hi Dave- I am hoping a hawk expert (or anyone!) will chime in on this one. In the meantime, I am struck by the almost black head and the strong demarkation on the neck to the rust feathers on the upper breast. One question- is the whole breast rusty brown or just the bit we see here? Is this an anomaly where the light is catching the upper breast?

I looked at Harlans in the Peterson guide and it does not show these brick-red feathers. Same with Sibley. Sibley shows a western, "intermediate", adult Red-tailed that looks similar to your bird the tail is not right.

[David Stephens]

Thank you John, for trying. I looked at some of the images that I didn't process and the roufous color on that bib is typical of the bird's back and much of the underside. However, the head does look like that darker, deep chocolate in all the images. I couldn't find a topside view of the tail. I see the Harlan's described as almost black and this individual is more roufous.

Most of my other helpers are saying roufous Western red-tail.

[Paul Guris]

Here's my though process, FWIW after just one cup of coffee. I immediately dismissed Ferruginous because the bill and head don't look nearly massive enough. Ferruginous makes me think of a little eagle. I don't know Swainson's variations all that well but I don't think they come in this color combo with the big rufous chest. Although the wings are pulled in a little making shape a bit more difficult, this bird appears to have very broad looking wings with bulging secondaries in the middle, or as I taught my wife "Popeye wings", and that doesn't fit the longer, slimmer wings of Swainon's. So that's how I ended up at Red-tailed.

These dark western birds can be very tricky and the variation in Red-taileds seems to be endless and don't necessarily fit into nice buckets. I'm going to go with a rufous morph Red-tailed. I dug around a bit and found a good photo and description that might be helpful:

http://www.ilbirds.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=a5518a5bb56c17f14bf1cdd0a214bd 27&topic=49358.msg67910#msg67910
(http://www.ilbirds.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=a5518a5bb56c17f14bf1cdd0a214bd 27&topic=49358.msg67910#msg67910)
And if you really feel like delving into this topic, here's an amazing article on separating Harlan's from Red-tailed. There are no birds that really match yours, but it is a fascinating look into how complex the ID of a very common species can really be.

http://aba.org/birding/v42n2p30.pdf

[David Stephens]

Paul, thank you for spending a cup of coffee dealing with my question. It was informative to see all the Harlan's examples are almost black in their dark feathering while my example is rufous on the back.

Here on the Eastern slope of the Rockies (South of Denver) we have an incredible variety of red-tails. The shape often seems to be the only common feature. The juveniles drive me wild, but it's interesting. In the span of 500-yards on one road that I frequent, we have three different red-tails from light to very dark moprhs.

So, what do the responders think of me identifying this as a rufous morph, Western red-tail hawk?

[Jon Rista]

The closest thing I've seen online is from this link:

http://www.jimburnsphotos.com/pages/redtailedhawk.html

Scroll down about a third of the way for rufous morphs. They look a lot like the photo posted, dark head, red bib, white tail. I say David has it nailed, Western Red-tailed Hawk, Rufous Morph.

It's such a tough call with the Red-tailed Hawks. I have an extremely difficult time identifying them, and like David Stephens, I live in South Denver (near Cherry Creek State Park) where we have a HUGE variety of red-tails, plenty of random juveniles that can be mostly light colored with darkish spots.

My Sibley doesn't contain any specific information about this exact morph either. The closest thing is a Western Intermediate Adult, which is almost the same with the exception of the same brick-red color in the tail feathers, where as this one has light feathers.

[David Stephens]

Hey Jon and thank you for the great link to Jim's site and further confirmation of my ID. About half way through Jim's site, I was thinking to myself, "I could build a site like this with just my shots from Cherry Creek State Park" but then I came to the albino and Harlan's, etc. and realized that I have a ways to go.

I'm out at CCSP several times most weeks. (Here's a little evidence; http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcstep/sets/72157632707601249/ ) I'm surprised that we haven't met. Are you out there often? I drive a silver BMW M3 and do a high percentage of my shooting from the car-blind. Say hello if you ever see me.

[Jon Rista]

Glad to help confirm and ID, especially of a Red-tailed...those babies are often quite tough to ID.

I am out at CCSP periodically. I have a busy day job, and I don't get out there nearly as much as I would like to. :'( I wanted to get out this weekend, but I had to send my camera in for repair (I think an element in my 100-400 is out of alignment, every shot lately has been soft or blurry.) I think we may have indeed met once or twice out there. You use a 500mm L lens, and like taking photos of big bucks? ;) I am usually out along the southern shore of the lake when the birds are around. Usually that area is all flooded, but with the hot summer last year, a beach has formed and you can gain access to some really good spots.

I would LOVE to meet up again sometime, though! :) I'm usually available on weekends. Last weekend I hit up Duck Lake at City Park to photograph the Cormorants (must be at least 120 of them nesting and raising young). Sadly, few of the shots came out, hence sending the lens and camera in for calibration. Anyway, you can find me at http://jonrista.com. If you want to meet up, you can find me there.