The "dark rufous" morph WESTERN RED-TAILED HAWK continues along Hw. 33 near
Glacier Ridge MP. Super cool bird!
Photos and some ID details from my visit today can be found at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S17339953.
Regarding dark red-tails in Ohio: there are no dark or intermediate morphs
of eastern Red-tailed Hawks. So strikingly darker morphs are invariably
going to be Western and Harlan's subspecies. This means we should probably
keep an eye out for light morph Western and Harlan's (perhaps Krider's?)
too, as these too are well worth documenting!! :-)
If you want to follow me down the rabbit hole just a little farther...
1. In the western U.S., Western (B. j. calurus) and Harlan's (B. j.
harlanii) Red-tailed Hawks range from your typical *light* morph,
through *light
intermediate*, then *dark intermediate* up to the more rare *dark* morph.
Westerns are warmer brown than the typically colder hues on Harlan's, so
when discussing Westerns, "intermediate" is often replaced with "rufous"
(e.g. dark rufous instead of dark intermediate). Those distinctions are a
coarse grained categorization along a continuum from light to nearly solid
blackish brown.
The Central Ohio bird mentioned above shows rufous tones to the undertail
and uppertail coverts, and hints of warmer brown coloration in the breast,
both features that distinguish it from western birds in the
*dark*category. Why isn't it a Harlan's? They tend to lack the warmer
rusty/rufous tones of Westerns, have more variable pale markings on the
head and body, and typically have a messy and quite variable tail pattern.
2. In the eastern U.S., the Eastern Red-tailed Hawk is basically the only
regular subspecies, unless you support elevating to subspecies status the
slightly more streaky and richly colored Northern Red-tailed Hawk (B. c.
abieticola). In any case, neither of these eastern types has intermediate
or dark morphs. The abieticola types are just a shade or two darker -- a
bit more colorful and more streaked than normal eastern Red-tails, and in
western terms, they fall within the range of light morph Westerns. If
you're still not convinced, I dare you to look for an intermediate morph
eastern red-tailed hawk photo online! It'll take a while ;-)
Since both Harlan's and Westerns occur in the eastern U.S. from time to
time, it pays to keep an eye out for them! *These dark birds stick out
like a sore thumb, but how many light morph Harlan's or Westerns have been
overlooked?*
If you interested in more on identifying the different races of Red-tailed
Hawk, there are some great raptor guides out there (e.g., the Wheeler
guide). Want some FREE references? Then I'd definitely check out some of
the relevant references listed at the end of this eBird Canada news article
"Identifying Northern Red-tailed Hawks" from just last month:
http://ebird.org/content/canada/news/identifying-northern-red-tailed-hawks/
These references in particular:
*Dickerman, R.* 1989. Identification of Red-tailed Hawks wintering in
Kansas, *Kansas Ornithological Society*.
http://www.ksbirds.org/kos/bulletin/Vol40No4.pdf
*Iron, J.* Dark morph Red-tailed Hawk: *calurus* or *abieticola*? TOC
Newsletter, February 2012, Toronto Ornithological Club.
http://www.jeaniron.ca/2012/darkredtailsTOCNews.pdf
*Liguori, J., and B. Sullivan*. 2010. Comparison of Harlan's with Western
and Eastern Red-tailed Hawks. *Birding* 42(2)2:30-37.
http://www.aba.org/birding/v42n2p30.pdf
*Liguori, J. *2004. Dark Red-tailed Hawks. *Birding* 36(3): 278-83.
http://www.aba.org/birding/v36n5p500.pdf
*Pittaway, R. *1993. Subspecies and Morphs of the Red-tailed Hawk in *Ontario
Birds *11(1): 23-29. Ontario Field Ornithologists.
http://www.jeaniron.ca/2010/redtailsRF.pdf
Good birding,
-Paul Hurtado
Columbus, OH
On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 9:06 AM, Bill Whan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I invite corrections from more knowledgeable folks, but my conversations
> with Ohio raptor experts remind me that the dark-plumaged red-tailed
> hawks of Ohio are most often reported in our northwestern corner, and
> are simply a small tribe among our resident red-tails. Real calurus from
> out west are possible of course but quite rare; they are noticeably
> smaller, and pretty much non-migratory in their home range. There's an
> 1895 specimen in the OSU Museum that was said to be a calurus, but
> decades later was determined to be local borealis with dark feathering
> (determined by Oberholser); I don't know if genuine calurus specimens
> from Ohio exist.
> Bill Whan
> Columbus
>
> ______________________________________________________________________
>
> Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
> Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/
> membership.php.
> Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
>
>
> You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
> listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
> Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]
>
--
Paul J. Hurtado
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Ohio State University
Mathematical Biosciences Institute, http://mbi.osu.edu/
Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, http://ael.osu.edu/
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Webpage: http://people.mbi.ohio-state.edu/hurtado.10
______________________________________________________________________
Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]
|
