I drove Russia Road from Grafton to Oberlin twice today. Lots of raptors: 6
American Kestrels, 4 Northern Harriers and 8 Red Tailed Hawks. No Short
Eared Owls.
Normally I would not post these species, but one of the raptors that I saw
was particularly interesting. I saw the same bird on two different
occasions today, 10:00am and 12:30pm. It was the size and shape of a Red
Tailed Hawk, but was entirely dark chocolate brown. It was so dark, at
first, I thought it was a crow. I had close views, from Russia Road to the
fence of the Lorain County Airport. I found no distinguishing marks on it
at all, no streaking or coloring at all on the chest or on the head. It was
perched on the fence on the South Side of the Lorain County Airport. I've
met other birders at this location when the Short Eared Owls were there last
year.
It flew away and it was lighter brown underneath the wings, but still,
rather dull. No recognizable black tail bands and certainly no red
coloration in the tail.
I've studied my Sibley's and there is some similarity to the Dark juvenile
(1st year) Red-tailed Hawk, but the tail coloring does not match up at all,
nor does the underside view. I'm leaning toward the Rough-legged Hawk, dark
morph, but only based on identification from Sibley's, not based on any
experience in the field identifying this particular bird.
Any suggestions on whether dark morph Rough-legged Hawk is a possibility?
If any of our Oberlin birding friends want to go take a look, like I said,
it was pretty reliable on two separate occasions today. Thanks in advance!
Spencer
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