Re: [cobirds] Dark Morph Rough-legged Hawk at RM Arsenal

Ron:

This is a beautiful raptor and your photos are great. However, this is a red tailed hawk. There are patagial bars that are clear and visible (a dead give away for a red tail), as are the gray lores and faint belly band. Also, it lacks booted tarsi (seen, or rather- not seen- in the second photo), nor is the tail banded as you would expect in a rough legged hawk.

Regardless, beautiful bird- thanks for sharing your sighting and photos!

Krista Hinman

Castle Rock, CO 

On Mon, Jan 23, 2023 at 2:55 AM Ron Wolf <ronwolf@eyeonnature.com> wrote:

There has been a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk (RLHA) hanging out at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. I saw the bird on Sunday, Jan. 22, and on each of the previous two weekends. A FWS ranger said she has been seeing this bird regularly for the last few weeks. All of the sightings have occurred on the wildlife loop road along the first quarter mile before crossing into the bison area and along the first mile inside the bison area. At first glance the perched bird might appear to be a dark morph Red-tailed Hawk, but when it takes flight the distinction becomes apparent. See photos at:

   https://www.flickr.com/photos/rwolf/52570651028/

   https://www.flickr.com/photos/rwolf/52570397204/


Ron Wolf
Arvada, CO



--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en
* All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate
* Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/767D7363-B2E9-4916-8847-C3CE3CCEE9BE%40eyeonnature.com.

--

Krista Hinman

www.kristahinman.com

--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en?hl=en
* All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate
* Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/CFO/Membership/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CA%2BhR3%2BsRm6fFVzoa-1gZY7iH3OLd8gKQU%3DOhDbU-poLcoEENfg%40mail.gmail.com.