To all:
A fascinating reply to my email earlier today about the light colored hawk
at CVNRA. If you missed the earlier post you can see the pictures at
http://picasaweb.google.com/mvalencic/ZebraHawK#
<http://picasaweb.google.com/mvalencic/ZebraHawK>
John:
Thank you for the very interesting information. I appreciate you taking the
time to share this with the Ohio list.
Matt & Adam Valencic
Chagrin Falls, OH
_____
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2008 8:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] Light colored hawk (Zebra Hawk!) CVNRA
Greetings,
I am a master falconer (flying a red-tail) and a raptor biologist. The bird
is a leucistic adult red-tail, and from the size of the folded foot it's
probably a female.
I have trapped and studied a leucistic red-tail, and have seen many photos
of such birds. But this specimen is atypical. In most cases, there is much
less coloring, with most feathers white. The partial coloring on the tail
feather is very common among such birds. The uncommon feature is a) the
zebra-like patterning, and b) the very dark, seemingly black pigmentation of
the colored feathers.
Could this dark coloring be an artifact of the digital photograph? I doubt
it, given the normal coloring of all of the background vegetation. The photo
doesn't seem to have any other aberrant color hues. The dark feathers should
be tan, as with normal red-tails, not so dark black.
At migration points, leucistic red-tails are seen almost every year. From my
anecdotal calculations, based upon sporadic reports of white red-tails in
Ohio each year, I believe that about one out of 5 or 10 thousand red-tails
are white or whitish.
Interestingly, almost all of these birds are adults, with dark eyes and
vestiges of red tail feathers. I believe there is evidence that the gene for
this white-feathered trait is expressed at age. It may be similar to humans
getting gray hair with age.
But I'm particularly curious about the darkness of the pigmented feathers.
I've seen no photos like this, either with the zebra effect, nor with such
dark pigmented feathers. Very rare.
It's too early for this to be a migrant. Adults particularly are still in
their summer or annual territories, so it would be good to learn if anyone
else has spotted this highly visible hawk.
Please feel free to post this on the main board, if you like.
Sincerely,
John A. Blakeman
[log in to unmask]
_____
Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? Check
<http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1209382257x1200540686/aol?redir=htt
p://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall00000001> out WalletPop for the
latest news and information, tips and calculators.
______________________________________________________________________
Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]
|
