Red-tailed Hawk Surveying the Area

This Red-tailed Hawk was looking around the area, presumably checking for both potential threats and potential meals. (I'm assuming it wasn't sure whether I was the former, and was more confident that I wasn't the latter.)

This hawk had the size and shape of a Red-tailed Hawk, but didn't obviously display either of my favorite field marks for the species:

  • Maybe you can interpret there to be a little burnt orange color on the tip of tail that's visible in the 1st picture, but it looks more brown in the 2nd picture. I'm not sure whether to attribute this to youth or lighting. While young Red-tailed Hawks do have brownish tails, the better look at the tail looked like it was shaded by the hawk's body, perhaps obscuring some orange coloring.
  • Most of this area's Red-tailed Hawks have a brown-speckled "belly band". When I enlarge the picture I think I see a speckle or 2, but far less than usual for these hawks. My explanation for this is that some subspecies of Red-tailed Hawk found across the continent have far less of a belly band than our local Red-tailed Hawks. I suspect that even if this individual was born around here, it had 1 or both parents who are from another area of the country.
  • I also remember hearing about a leucistic Red-tailed Hawk spotted around Duke Farms. Could this be that hawk? It's hard to say, especially since animals can have a wide range of leucism, making them slightly lighter/whiter all the way to albinoism. (Albinos can be identified as having pink eyes due to a complete absence of melanin, but there's no dead giveaway for leucism.)
  • It's a little hard for me to tell if this is a local leucistic Red-tail or a non-local Red-tail with non-local coloring.
May 9, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 282306594, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

May 9, 2023 at Duke Farms
Photo 282306581, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tussock Moth Herd

Image
Some caterpillars are usually seen in large numbers (like Armyworm Moth caterpillars and Eastern Tent Caterpillars ), while most are more solitary. The Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars (more about them are here ) seem to be slightly social. I'll sometimes see them alone, but more often I'll see them in groups of 2-9 members. In the 1st picture below, you can see there is a clear size difference in some of these individuals. I'm almost certain the little one in the middle is in an earlier instar than the others (though they lack the colorful tufts of fuzz in their earliest instars). August 31, 2021 at Washington Valley Park Photo 167477945, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) In the picture below, it's clear that these caterpillars don't require a lot of personal space. August 31, 2021 at Washington Valley Park Photo 167477979, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Read more

Copper Underwing Caterpillar

Image
I believe this caterpillar to be a Copper Underwing [1]. At least the coloring and the dorsal hump (near the left end of the caterpillar) seem consistent with the Copper Underwing. These caterpillars are not what you'd consider picky eaters; my Caterpillars of Eastern North America describes their diet thusly: Many wooded plants including apple, basswood, blueberry, cherry chestnut, current, grape, greenbrier, hawthorn, hickory, lilac, maple, oak, poplar, raspberry, rhododendron, viburnum, Virginia creeper, and walnut. Wikipedia adds: Ash, privet, honeysuckle, rose, and service trees. That's a pretty wide range of trees and shrubs. One of the challenges of finding them is that they could be almost anywhere; the other challenges are: Their green coloring blends in pretty darned well with the average leaf. They have a habit of feeding underneath leaves, so they're probably not visible when looking down at their location. They have a tendency to move from leaf-to-leaf; if you
Read more

Eastern Pondhawks

Image
I'm going to try something different today with my Eastern Pondhawk pictures. I'm going to let ChatGPT do my blog today. (ChatGPT is an AI program that you can converse with in a pretty human way; an explanation of it is here .) Me:  Can you tell me something interesting about the Eastern Pondhawk? ChatGPT:  The Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) is a dragonfly species that is native to North America. It is a medium-sized dragonfly, with a wingspan of about 3 inches, and can be found in a variety of habitats, including wetlands, marshes, and ponds. One interesting characteristic of the Eastern Pondhawk is its mating behavior. Male Eastern Pondhawks are known for their territorial behavior and will defend their territory from other males. They will patrol their territory and will try to mate with any females that fly into their territory. Another interesting fact about the Eastern Pondhawk is that it is a fast flyer and is able to hover in midair. It is also an import
Read more