[Aubri]

I've been seeing a bird for about a year now near my workplace that continues to defy my attempts at ID. It's resident in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas; I've seen these on and off for years all around the metroplex. (This probably means someone's going to laugh at me...)
The bird is a buteo smaller than a redtail but similar in shape. It's dark brown on the back but light beneath, with dark wingtips and secondaries -- only the ventral coverts are white like its belly. It has a prominent white rump-patch and the dark coloration 'dips' just above its shoulders to meet at its throat, which gives it a dark "ring" at the base of its neck.
I thought it might be a harrier (marsh hawk), but I've never seen any gray males and I don't see them "quartering" over the fields out here. I only see them soaring, usually 50+ feet up. I've watched them attack birds perching on the fence a few times, though I've never seen them make a kill. When they do, it's a long, sloping dive like a buteo.
They like to catch the updraft off the front of my building, which I don't mind at all, but this is driving me nuts...

[Grousemore]

Hi Aubri and welcome to Birdforum from the Moderators and Staff.

A very thorough description should make the ID a cinch,I've got an idea myself,but will wait to check my books later!

[Aubri]

Great! Thanks!
I looked all through my birding books* but couldn't find a match.. I can only assume it's an oddly colored race of somthing else.

*Peterson's is handy, but pretty darn light on the illustrations. Gotta get me a Sibley's...

[Tero]

There are lots of "forms" of Red Tailed Hawks, not sure size varies, though.

[Aubri]

Hah! I just saw it swooping on the local redtail.
It's DEFINITELY smaller--maybe 3/4 the size and a lot skinnier.

[Grousemore]

Originally Posted by Aubri

Hah! I just saw it swooping on the local redtail.
It's DEFINITELY smaller--maybe 3/4 the size and a lot skinnier.

I'm now flummoxed,but hopefully someone will provide an answer.

[Motmot]

A male Swainson's Hawk can look smaller and skinnier than a female Redtail. Description somehow fits, white rump, "dark ring" at the base of its neck but I'm far from convinced

[Grousemore]

Originally Posted by Motmot

A male Swainson's Hawk can look smaller and skinnier than a female Redtail. Description somehow fits, white rump, "dark ring" at the base of its neck but I'm far from convinced

That was my initial thought when the dark chest-band was mentioned....but my confidence went when the size was described as '3/4 the size of a Redtail'
But if they look smaller....perhaps?

[Aubri]

*waves his brand new Sibley*
Yeah, that's what I was just thinking.. but I've always had the feeling these birds are distinctly smaller than redtails. I'll try and get a good photo of one this afternoon or tomorrow morning (they usually 'go up' after noon.)
Also, the drawings in the book are a lot more patterned than these guys... the break between light and dark is very sharp.

[Motmot]

Swainson's have smaller bodies than Redtails (Swai. weights 855g, Redtail 1080g), wingspan is longer though. Redtails look stocky, Swainsons' look definitely slimmer with long wings. Go take a good pic and that will really help us!

[Tero]

Smaller hawks: Broad Winged Hawk, Cooper's Hawk.

I believe I saw a Swainson's once, but was so shocked forgot all details, except that it was slimmer and quite pale.

But don't worry if this is hard, at least the hawks won't go away. I once looked at three hawks in a zoo type place and it took me 5 minutes with a guide to decide which was which with a book! The one bird kept turning its back to me.

[Katy Penland]

Hi, Aubri,

Welcome to BirdForum!

Your bird sounds to me like a classic northern harrier (Circus cyaneus), particularly with the prominent white rump -- that's not on any other NA raptor and is diagnostic for this species. Juvies and adult females are brown, but the adult male is a rich gray on top.

EDIT: In re: Motmot's note, Swainson's white on the upper tail is a narrow band compared to the much wider, squarish white patch that the northern harrier has. That harrier rump really strobes when the bird banks and is easily visible at great distances.

In lieu of a photo, can you tell how relatively large this white area is on the rump?

[Grousemore]

Unless I am misreading Aubri's initial post,he seemed to discount Northern Harrier on the basis of flight pattern...soaring high rather than flying low over the ground.

And again,the size doesn't fit,NH being of similar size to Redtail.

Hurry on with the photo!

[Katy Penland]

Originally Posted by Grousemore

Unless I am misreading Aubri's initial post,he seemed to discount Northern Harrier on the basis of flight pattern...soaring high rather than flying low over the ground.

And again,the size doesn't fit,NH being of similar size to Redtail.

Yeah, that's what's a stumper because none of the buteos that would occur in Texas are "3/4" the size of a red-tail, and Swainson's has, per Sibley, an even longer wingspan. True, a dark-morph Swainson's could possibly *look* smaller than, say, a light-morph red-tail.

Re flight behavior, the northern harriers where I live do more high soaring simply because of the type of habitat: conifer forest. When I've seen them in more open country (SE AZ and California), they're skimming along barely above the vegetation.

Hurry on with the photo!

Hear, hear!

[Aubri]

Ack, lots of replies... OK...

That was my initial thought when the dark chest-band was mentioned....but my confidence went when the size was described as '3/4 the size of a Redtail' But if they look smaller....perhaps?

You may be correct -- I very well could have mistaken the relative sizes due to the Swainson's(?) slender appearance. I couldn't observe them together for long--they went over the building.
It sounds like both the swainson and the harrier are about the same size lengthwise but the redtail has a much heavier build. So I don't think size is going to help much...

Re flight behavior, the northern harriers where I live do more high soaring simply because of the type of habitat: conifer forest. When I've seen them in more open country (SE AZ and California), they're skimming along barely above the vegetation.

Your bird sounds to me like a classic northern harrier (Circus cyaneus), particularly with the prominent white rump -- that's not on any other NA raptor and is diagnostic for this species. Juvies and adult females are brown, but the adult male is a rich gray on top.

Well, it may BE a harrier then, since this is urban and there's no really BIG fields to glide over (the biggest is no bigger than a city block.) Now that I think of it, I thought I saw one of them pulling the "hover" stunt against the wind over a highway onramp near my office, but it was only a flash so the ID isn't positive at all.

However.... I tend to think these aren't harriers. I saw a few harriers last winter in Washington State, and this seems a bit bigger than that, and as I mentioned, I haven't seen any similar gray birds. I saw similar soaring behavior in a kettle of 3 or 4 such birds once over a parking lot in Dallas. That was when I actually saw them for the first time, and couldn't figure out what they were. This was.. 4 years ago. At the time I think I dismissed them as migrating kites of some sort. But since there's at least 2 hanging around my building, I deduce they're resident and native.

Unless.. it's a bird... nobody else can see... stalking me... watching my every move... AAHHH!!

EDIT: In re: Motmot's note, Swainson's white on the upper tail is a narrow band compared to the much wider, squarish white patch that the northern harrier has. That harrier rump really strobes when the bird banks and is easily visible at great distances.

In lieu of a photo, can you tell how relatively large this white area is on the rump?

The rump patch is definitely a rump patch and not a tail-base band. It doesn't quite touch the hips, and it's vaguely square. I'm trying not to use precise measurements since I'm not sure of the total size, but it's definitely not visible from below, or from the side if its tail is tilted away.

[fbeeldens]

'llo Aubri,

The white rump makes the northern harrier a possibility. Does the bird look long tailed/long and narrow winged? Does the tail have any banding pattern?

Cheers,

Filip

[Aubri]

No photo yet, but a quick google search brings up this for a Swainson's Hawk.
Looks a HELL of a lot like "my" bird.
http://www.acnatsci.org/research/vir...9;s%20Hawk.jpg
None of the NOHA photos I saw looked even remotely similar.

Notice how the white tailbase blends in with the white underside. :p Blah, this is what I get for being an amature...

[Tero]

Does your bird have the darker feathers near the head, the "collar"?

[fbeeldens]

Hello Aubry,

Upon seeing the photograph, I carefully reread your original description. The white coverts you described there on the underwing actually rule out a northern harrier, as the coverts on a young bird/female would be dark.

Cheers,

Filip

[Aubri]

Originally Posted by Tero

Does your bird have the darker feathers near the head, the "collar"?

Yes. See my original post, re: the dark "ring" at the base of the neck.

[Tero]

I would go with Swainson's then. I saw one only once, and looked at the head, remembering it odd for a red tail, which I thought it must be, despite no reddish or brownish feathers. By the time I got to a field guide, it was gone.

You have had lots of sightings, so this should be easy to confirm. The Peterson series of guides has a good Hawks book, but I never get to use it much. Identified a kite once with it.

[Aubri]

I'll assume it's a Swainson's until I can post a photo here. She was a no-show today, and I'm going out of town tomorrow, so I'll get a shot as soon as possible. Thanks!