Sighting details
Location
near Edmonton, Alberta

Geobirds Local >>

rarityRed-tailed Hawk (1)
Seen by Tony
Larger >>
When August 10, 2008 at 20:55
Details COMMON
Notes if anyone wants to guess at whatkind of stage it is be my guest
Weather

Comments 

user jim macgregor, Sep 4 2008
--I'll jump into this and say that your Red-tail is a Light - Morph Adult Western; be sure to check Tony's other shots of this specimen; Anyone else??
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user TawnyOwl15, Sep 4 2008
That sounds correct to me! He looks like a Western Light-morph. In case anybody was wondering, the Western's typically have that bold abdominal band, in comparison win the Eastern's many individual streaks. What makes it an adult, is the fact that his eyes are a nice, dark brown. To me, he looks like a male (hence me calling it a "he" throughout this comment), because of his size against the post. He just doesn't strike me as a "Goliath", like the females do :).
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user jim macgregor, Sep 4 2008
- the other distinguishing feature that I keyed on was the throat color; the Easterns apparently have a white throat and this one does not; Thanx to Tawny, for her analysis and to Tony, for the very good shots!
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user TawnyOwl15, Sep 5 2008
Good call Jim. There's an interesting book out called "Hawk's In Flight" by Peter Dunne, David Sibley, and Clay Sutton. It's a fantastic book with great detail, and it also gets into all the different Red-Tailed morphs. It's outstanding. P.S. I'm a "He", Jim :P.
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user jim macgregor, Sep 5 2008
-always had trouble telling the sex difference in "TawnyOwls!! HA!! -I've had the "Hawks in Flight" book for a number of years and have found the attention to detail most helpful!
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user TawnyOwl15, Sep 5 2008
Ha!! Yes, that book is a good one. I end up reading it over and over again. It is VERY helpful!
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user jim macgregor, Sep 5 2008
-& I know what you mean, when you read it over and over! The detail is so extensive and comparative, that for most of us, it would be impossible to file, in an orderly way, somewhere in our brains!
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