Re: Help I.D. a Hawk, please

[paul grindrod <pgrind at peoplepc dot com>]

Nicky Davis-

It looks like a Swainson's Hawk to me. There is no clear lightening along the scapulars (the almost always telltale sign of a red-tail from behind), the tail banding is less distinct than juvenile red-tails often show, and there appears to be molt in the flight feathers suggesting that this is an adult bird. Were it an adult red-tail this far along in molt it would obviously have a red tail, so the logical assumption is that it is an adult Swainson's. It is also slightly less chunky, a little sleeker and more lightly built, all pointing to Swainson's in my opinion. Too bad it wasn't turned just slightly more to the side and we could expect to see a white chin patch, but it looks like just a little patch of white is peeking above the base of the beak. Swainson's often have a fine but visible white face patch, as well.

As for the tail/wing length relativity thing, I find those some of the most difficult and misleading field marks to use. So many aspects of posture, wind, balance, molt, and other intangibles make any degree of certainty about relative lengths of various appendages almost useless to me.

Paul Grindrod

-----Original Message-----
From: Nicky Davis <nicky-davis@earthlink.net>
Sent: Jun 5, 2005 11:04 PM
To: birdtalk@utahbirds.org
Subject: Help I.D. a Hawk, please

This hawk was about 1 mile South of Burriston ponds today, June 5, 2005. I thought it was maybe a Swainson's ( unfeathered legs, coloring, summer range), but his tail is longer than the wings. So I think it must be a Red-tailed.  The beak and gape sort of look like a Ferruginous but the legs are not feathered.  Please let me know your expert opinion. This is the only view and when he flew, we were unable to see his underwing pattern. 

http://home.earthlink.net/~birdutahv/h_hawkrt60505burston.html

Thanks for your help, Nicky Davis

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