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Idaho Raptors (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Nickk
- Start date
#5 is a juvenile Swainson's Hawk. #2 looks like it has a bib like a Swainson's Hawk. #3 chest and head markings look like a juv. dark intermediate morph Swainson's Hawk shown in plate 312 of Wheeler's Western Edition of Raptors of North America.
Swainsons Hawks are bunching up in August for their migration south.
As for number 1 I can't tell. Maybe a dark morph Western Red-tailed Hawk? #4 I can't tell.
Bob
Swainsons Hawks are bunching up in August for their migration south.
As for number 1 I can't tell. Maybe a dark morph Western Red-tailed Hawk? #4 I can't tell.
Bob
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I think all of these are Swainson's Hawks.
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That could very well be. The pictures look like they were taken in the same general area.
I'll throw this 'theory" out for discussion if some find it worth while.
I read somewhere years ago that the first thing to do is "rule out the possibility that in the USA a raptor you see is a Red-tailed Hawk." That was based on the theory that in the USA 40% of the Hawks one sees will be Red-tails. I know that 'rule of thumb' is likely to be unreasonable on many occasions so I take it with a grain of salt. But there are occasions, like this one, where it is difficult to ignore.
Bob
I would expect the "Western" Red-tailed Hawk, B. j. calurus to be the most numerous hawk in Idaho. Photographs in Wheeler's "RAPTORS of Western North America" show that they come in various colored "morphs:" Light morph, light intermediate morph, Intermediate (rufous)morph, dark intermediate (dark rufous) morph and dark morph. They show dark heads.
The hawks pictured above in pictures #1 and #4 could be "dark intermediate" or "dark."
To confuse matters more, Wheeler's above cited book also has pictures of Swainson's Hawks designated "intermediate (rufous)morph; intermediate (dark rufous) morph; dark intermediate (dark rufous) morph; broken down between males and females. (To much information here for me!:eek!
Bob
I think most of the year, in the eastern US you have higher than 40% redtails among those non-falcon hawks you see. Exceptions creep in if you see a kettle of migrating buteos, where most will be different. the number also rest on Vultures being excluded from consideration.
Niels
