I hesitate to post this, but I may have seen a Krider’s subspecies of Red-
tailed Hawk (RTHA) on Saturday, and amazingly, again on Sunday. The
sightings were about one mile apart in Prince George’s Co, but the plumage
is so distinct it had to be the same bird. On Saturday afternoon I was
doing some Atlasing on Western Branch in Bristol CW, and found an unusual
buteo perched in a tree along a forested floodplain below Upper Marlboro.
I am usually confidant with raptor identification, especially when I have
a good view. But with only a frontal view of this bird while it was
perched I was puzzled at first. It was SO white, it was very beautiful!
It was not an albino, since I could see a trace of flecking across the
belly, with some on the margins of the wings and more on the back of the
head. However, when I spooked a Great Blue Heron that was also perched
nearby, the hawk flushed. It simply got up, circling and catching the
steady breeze, which was from the N-NW at 10-15MPH. I then confirmed it
was a RTHA and thought it was leucistic; it had a very pale tail but I
could see faint barring, especially toward the tip. I never got a good
look at its back. After several loops, I lost sight of it due to the
foliage blocking my view.
However, on Sunday I was working in back of my house, in similar habitat,
and heard an eagle give a call. When I looked up there were two adults
and a juvenile bald eagle circling very low. But I scarcely paid
attention, because a couple hundred feet above them I saw what appeared to
be a white buteo! Luckily I had my bins and got a great view; I think it
had to be the same bird I saw Saturday. But this time it flapped its
wings a little and I saw a slightly better view of the top of its wings,
which had lots of light and dark brown flecking, and I could also see a
trace of rusty orange on the top of its tail. I had no good view of its
back but could see markings when the bird turned while soaring. The bird
soared up high and then trailed off out of sight to the west.
I wondered if it could have a trace of red in the tail if it was
leucistic, and looked up some images on Google. The answer is yes. I saw
one photo of a leaucistic RTHA with a very dark red tail. However,
Krider’s seems to be a better fit, based on the extent of flecking the
bird had. If it was only a leucistic eastern RTHA, it was an aberrant
leucistic based on the extent of flecking! Though the Krider’s is a
midwest RTHA subspecies, I wonder if it could have flown off course - do
they migrate? I see there have been records of them sighted in Cape May
NJ. My guess is a Krider’s, but unless it stays around and gets spotted
better or photographed I'll never know.
Jeff Shenot
Croom MD |