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Swainson Hawk colour morphs question, Alberta Canada (1 Viewer)

Zangazanga

Well-known member
Hello,
It is harvest time for the grain fields around here in Alberta, and that has meant more hawks showing up soaring above the combining machinery, looking to take advantage of disturbed rodents that are suddenly without the cover of the tall, dry, grain stalks.
I have been watching a couple of Swainson's Hawks, and trying to classify them to colour morph. My question is, if anyone would care to way in on this, would this bird be considered as a "dark" morph or "intermediate" morph. (I am getting these terms from Dunne, Sibley & Sutton, "Hawks in Flight".)
Cheers,
z.
 

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The backlighting on the bird may "color" this opinion (no pun intended), but I would be willing to go intermediate morph on the bird from the soaring picture. A light morph should have pretty much stark white wing linings. Note, though, that these designations are just handy categories that we have imposed on the birds - and not the reverse.
 
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