Seen this guy awhile ago, and have been having a hard time figuring out what he is. My first thought was Krider's, I did some searching online, and found this, and now I don't know. Mine does have more markings, not as plain white, but considering the variation I have seen in regular Red-tailed Hawks, I'm not sure how important that is. And these are the best shots I got of it before it got behind trees. Got some more of it flying after, but from much further away, so they aren't any good. And unfortunately, I didn't get any with its body facing me.
Info:
July 7th, 2010, 3:00PM
Digital Rebel T1i wearing a Canon 55-250mm IS lens @ 250mm
F/8, 1/1250th, ISO 400
About 30km north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Mostly white head, little or no belly band, white underneath, underside of tail very white, color pattern on the back and prairie location certainly lead toward Krider's. That said, much of western Canada is occupied by intergrades. I am sure that other raptor observers will help to positively ID this bird. You might email these images to Brian K. Wheeler for his expert opinion. He has authored along with William S. Clark a couple of excellent texts on raptors.
Tim- I have the book Jim is referring to. One Krider's in the book looks quite like yours but a little lighter in colouration.
This ID question reminds me that the whole issue of variation within species and what it means in evolutionary and conservation terms is still hotly debated. Modern DNA techniques including "barcoding" (see http://www.barcodeoflife.org/) produce results that sometimes agree with traditional classification systems, sometimes show that two species are the same evolutionary unit, and with others clearly show that current "good" species should be split. I am not sure what the latest is on all the variation seen in species such as the buteo hawks.
ID help, Krider's?
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