Saturday, April 10, 2010

Mystery Red-tailed Hawks

Help! These raptors - there were two of them - were hovering in the air above Yaquina Head on Thursday last. They were high in the air, mostly absolutely still but occasionally shifting in a loop that brought them back to roughly the same spot, and they were there for a couple of hours, at least. They looked so big we thought they were eagles, which obviously they are not. The question is, of course: what are they?

I'd have thought that face - with the dark stripe and the light cheeks (auriculars?) - the white at the wrist, and the white stripe on the broad tail would make them easy to identify. But nothing in my guide seems to match. I'm leaning toward Red-tailed Hawk (and several commenters agree; Mike of 10000 Birds says "the black edge on the wing and the belly-band" are the identifiers), because the book says they are "quite variable in color" but I'm just not sure.

But they were breath-taking to see, hanging dead still in what was quite a strong wind.

(I played a little with the color, as you can see.)


raptor hovering over Yaquina Head




raptor hovering over Yaquina Head



raptor hovering over Yaquina Head



raptor hovering over Yaquina Head



raptor hovering over Yaquina Head

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1 Comments:

At 9:36 PM, April 10, 2010 Blogger fev had this to say...

Czarina says red-tail.

 

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