Mystery Bird in Tami's Message

Sunday, Sept 27 26. I love that Tami included a mystery bird in her message and report today. We sometimes record them as Unidentified, but Tami lost the bird in the sun, as will often happen. We can't know if it was a migrant. But it warrants discussion. Because, it is not always easy to ID even the common Hawks as opposed to something we would love to record, that is not so common. With Red-tailed hawks, there are also some features that make them unique. Examples woulld be, Light and Dark Morphs, Harlans and Leucistic birds...and other titles given to certain looks of Red-tails,which are not typical - with a red tail. Another factor, for identification of all hawks, is that a juvenile bird can look quite a bit different than an adult. So since this Mystery Bird caught a long-time counter's attention, I know it was worth checking out. After this report I am putting up some pictures I gleaned from online to represent 3 hawk species which can be misidentified pretty easily when they are not in the expected plumage of an Adult version........... It takes a long look sometimes to find the features you need to make an ID. That is exactly what Tami was trying to do when her hawk didn't present with common ID features. She was going down a checklist of things that could help ID a unique bird, and as she did that, nothing was coming up difinitive. Then the bird flew into the sun, and her check list was interrupted before she could ck it all out. When that happens, it leaves you with a sense of wanting to have seen more. It sticks with you for a few days. Ask me how I know. There are things that given time, would have identified her bird. But they might not be the first things you look at..... Distant birds sometimes require a silouette ID. Knowing wingshape, tail length, and relative size in comparison to something else. This is true between 3 specific Hawks. And Tami was on the trail to Identifying any one of the 3.( I added the 3rd to the discussion, not her, for discussions sake.) Although after the fact, we would probably rule out at last one, based on it being a Western Hawk, stranger things have happened than seeing a bird out of it's expected range. But she rightly focused on 2...... Noting features that could occur mostly in one or the other, but in morphs or juveniles can occur in both, or either or. Gets complicated. And notice, in her message, she said "spots on the legs like..." Guess what. The bird with the most dominant spotted legs in light morph is the western bird. LOL So, she was trying to gather evidence, if you will. The 3 hawks are Red-tailed, Rough-legged, and Ferrouginous. I looked through dozens of online photos and kept seeing articles of how these 3 were most like one of the others as a similiar species. ...................Here is a quote from one of our posts many years ago, where I searched for the instances we have seen the Rough-legged Hawk: "But the one thing I haven't mentioned at all are the unique individuals that we have seen.(# 8) In all these years we have only managed to count 3 Mississippi Kites, 1 Northern Goshawk, and 1 Rough-legged Hawk. The rarest of our species. But there have only been 61 Merlins, and 18 Golden Eagles. I didn't get to see the NG or the RL, and am not sure I could have ID'd them at the time." Now, Numbers for Merlins and Golden Eagles may have changed since then. But the other 2, not so much. I didn't have time to actually search for an actual update; Bill would probably know off the top of his head. But Rough-legged would have been pretty cool for Tami and Bill..... Years ago, there was one that stayed around for the winter on the other side of the mountains in the Sequatchie Valley. Like with kites, things are seen over there, we wish would come over to our valley. So it was also not unreasonable for Tami to ck out a hawk that wasn't common looking. I really hate she didn't have a little more time. But even then sometimes, you just can't be sure. Thanks for bringing me back to the watch, with memories of trying to ID a hawk but, only walking away with visions of it in my head. LOL Here's her message and her count sheet, followed by 4 hawk pics to review, that if I saw these backlit by sun, I am sure I would struggle to pick out the Rough-legged for certain.

Light Morph RT Aug 28 25 Echo Oregon by Mark Ludwick of Pacific NW Birding on FACEBOOK .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Light Morph Rough-Legged Hawk from FACEBOOK New England Wildlife ..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Juvenile RT from Birdfact.com, articles on RT Hawks .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Ferrufinous Hawk from All About Birds....................... Notice the banding on the tail, which Tami described, is missing on THIS bird. I could not find an instance where a feruginous had banding on it's tail. However they have a very reddish upper tail in many cases, which when backlit by sun looks just like a lighter colored adult RT. The exceptionally long wings, and no bands on the tail...Not her bird, no possibility for a rare Western fluke. Not that she considered it. Just noting, how to rule the rare one out definitively. One final note. I have seen Red-tails almost completely devoid of the checkerboard banding on their underwings, shown in these 2 RT pictures, and the one at the top of our page. Some RTs are so white underneath you wonder if they are leucistic. Which we have seen. But it has to be noted, that at least 1 completely Albino looking RT has been reported on several occasions by people up on Jones Gap RD. Reputable birders have tagged me in pics, or mentioned them on FACEBOOK and I saw it. If the is a local, and has nested, there could be some very Feruginous looking RTs up there. If they happen to migrate over the watch, it might be a little confusing unless the counters are aware! Happy Birding to all. KEEP LOOKING UP!!! Jimmy and Cynthia