Thanks to all of you who weighed in on my hawk dilemma. The picture below that Allan sent me is almost exactly what I saw. So, leucistic red-tailed hawk is the verdict. But what fun seeing these beautiful birds, and thanks again for all your help. I've learned a lot about hawks from the emails. I'll keep looking for more exciting things. One never knows what's around the next corner!!! Verna Ansel Galloway, OH ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Mon, November 8, 2010 10:55:07 PM Subject: Re: [Ohio-birds] ID of hawk - help needed Why not Albino Red-tailed Hawks. They are regularly seen in Ohio. Here's an image from one that has been in the Brookville Lake area in Southeast Indiana, not far from Oxford Ohio for quite a few years. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nsxbirder/5006706700/ There are also some flight shots in my Flickr gallery for additional views. Allan Claybon -----Original Message----- From: Verna Ansel <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Mon, Nov 8, 2010 6:08 pm Subject: [Ohio-birds] ID of hawk - help needed OK, this is a tough one. Today at around 3:00 p.m. on Roberts Road in Hilliard, OH at the westernmost part of Franklin County I saw two hawks sitting on a fence line. I was able to view them for about 2-3 minutes from about 200+ feet from my car with fairly low-powered binoculars. One was mostly white, including the wings, with just a patch of dark coloring on the leading edge of the wings. Underneath was mostly white also with just a band of dark coloring at what might have been the belly band, and the tail was white with only a narrow band of color at the tip. The size of both birds was as large as a Red-Tailed Hawk and they flew similar to the wing beat when they took off. The white one was eating something (looked like a rabbit by the size, but hard to tell from my distance and the state of the prey) and the second one was trying to get in a peck or two. The second one was more a common brown color. I would liken it to a picture in my hawk book of a light morph Ferruginous Hawk. They were obviously together because when one flew, the other followed. Size was pretty much the same. Again in my hawk book (Hawks & Owls of the Great Lakes Region by Chris Earley) the white one looks an awful lot like a picture of a White Morph Gyrfalcon. Now is this possible? Or was I seeing some form of a white morph Ferruginous Hawk? Or are there others that might have seen this pair and have an idea? I looked for a falconer thinking they might have been a trained pair, but they were on private property and noone was around. Even after they flew I saw noone directing or calling them. Wish I could have seen them closer and longer, but birds just don't wait for us slow-witted untrained birders. Any help would be appreciated. And I know you'll have dozens of questions which I should have thought of commenting on. Fire away. I really would like to identify this beautiful pair. Verna Ansel Galloway, OH (Franklin County) ______________________________________________________________________ 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] = ______________________________________________________________________ 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]