Thursday, 25 December 2014

[cobirds] Zone-tailed Hawk, maybe not

COBirders,

  After looking at photo that Brandon Percival took of a Harlan’s Hawk Tuesday afternoon and my not being able to find any trace of a Zone-tailed Hawk, yesterday and today, I’ve decided not to submit the sighting to the Colorado Bird Records Committee.  The bird my CBC partner and I saw flying in the wind Tuesday morning showed a flight pattern similar to a Harrier.  It did not perch.  The underwing pattern was very similar to that of a Turkey Vulture.  I saw a single dirty white band midway in the tail only when the tail was spread.  During the two instances I saw the bird I did not get close enough to see any details of the bill, head or legs.  The bird appeared black overall.  Brandon’s photo of a distant Harlan’s Hawk in the same general area looks similar enough to the bird I saw that I now have doubts about my original I.D.

Leon Bright

Pueblo

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