On February 21, I posted a note, here on MDOsprey, about a probable Krider's
Red-tailed Hawk I had seen that day at Blackwater NWR. Yesterday, I received
my new March 2010 issue of *Birding* magazine, from the ABA. Included in
this issue are two excellent articles by Jerry Liguori and Brian Sullivan,
both respected raptor experts, on ID-ing Krider's and Harlan's Red-tails.
After carefully reading the article on the Krider's and looking carefully at
the photos in the article, I am now essentially positive that the bird I saw
was a Krider's Red-tail. Specifically, the bird I saw had a uniform and
essentially unmarked pale-cream underside (body, wings, throat, head) ; had
a pale, very light, pinkish tail; had no other markings such as a belly band
(that Liguori and Sullivan note are usual on Eastern Red-tails, on Eastern
X Krider's inter-breeds, and on light-morph Harlan's Red-tails). Also, the
bird I saw looked exactly like the photos 1a. and 1.b of the article,
illustrating a Krider's Red-tail, and did NOT look like the photos of the
inter-breeds or light-morph Harlan's in the articles. I believe it was
surely a Krider's that I saw, and I feel fortunate to have had that
opportunity. I only wish someone else had seen and reported on this bird as
well. If you haven't seen the hawk ID articles in Birding, it is worth
trying to do so.
--
Donald Sweig
Falls Church, Va. |