Strange buteos

This top bird is not a strange buteo, but - on the basis of just this side view - it's probably not an easy ID for most birders. If you don't know what this is, then let's review what is visible on this bird and see where that gets us.

It's a hawk with rounded wings and a medium-short tail - in other words: a buteo. We see some kind of light panel in the primaries, a light buffy bar across the upperwing coverts, and - for a hawk at least - a small bill. Let's take a look at another photo of the same bird, with more field marks visible.

Here we have a clear view of the bird's upperside. It would probably be easier if we had a view of its underside, because that's just how we see buteos most often. But we can work it out with this upperside view just fine. What else is visible that wasn't earlier? Exactly, the tail. Brown tail with wide dark terminal band and smaller bands on the rest of the tail. That wide dark terminal tail band should suggest Rough-legged Hawk to us, and the earlier noted small bill would confirm that ID. Those light panels in the upperwings are quite characteristic of juvenile Rough-legged Hawk. Juvenile Red-tailed Hawks have primary panels too, but usually not this exaggerated.

Here then finally a photo of the underside of the same bird, and it should be quite clear now that this is a juvenile dark morph Rough-legged Hawk. Those big dark carpal patches are what most birders think of when they think of Rough-legged Hawks, and most of them indeed show that field mark.

I'll admit, this is a rather contrived and elaborate - OK, far-fetched - way to get to my real topic, i.e. 'strange buteos'. What I really mean is strange redtails. Two days ago there was that "Krider's-type" bird, which hasn't been seen since. For those of you who have back issues of Birding on their shelves: that bird was a spitting image of the bird illustrated in the October 2001 issue of that publication, in figure 20, showing a bird captured at a raptor banding station in Braddock Bay, NY. Jerry Liguori, author of that article, suggests that the bird in that photo is an adult Eastern Red-tailed Hawk, probably a Krider's intergrade but not a true Krider's. The head on that bird, like on our bird of two days ago, is pale, but not whitish. I think Wednesday's bird was most likely also an intergrade, not a true Krider's. There are still things to be learned about sub-specific variation in the Red-tailed Hawk; the more you look into it, the more variation you will find.

Today, another pale redtail showed up, but this was a different individual from two days ago. It had a little more spotting on the sides of the belly (still unspotted mid-belly), the head was a fraction darker (but still quite blonde), and the tail was all-red, with a narrow black subterminal band. (The tail on the earlier bird was half-white.) The back on today's bird was extensively speckled with light markings.

Then also today there was an adult 'rufous' intermediate morph redtail, and a juvenile 'rufous' intermediate morph redtail, possibly the same bird that was seen yesterday and the day before of a similar description.

But the real mystery bird was seen in the first hour of the count only. I don't have photos but I followed the bird for a while in the scope, and made extensive field notes:

• all-dark buteo, shape like redtail
• slightly smaller and shorter-winged than roughleg, with which it soared for a few moments
• dark tail with wide dark terminal band, smaller bands on rest of tail (not unlike bird pictured above!)
• remiges (flight feathers) quite dark! almost as dark as on Swainson's Hawk
• dark trailing edge on wings (i.e. adult)
• jizz not like Swainson's, also undertail coverts dark (not light, as in Swainson's)
• jizz not like Short-tailed, also wingtips not upturned when soaring
• structure essentially like redtail

So what's an adult dark redtail whose tail is not red? Is that a Harlan's, or is it yet another dark redtail variation?

Good. So much for that 'familiar' buteo, the Red-tailed Hawk, which shows so much variation. Other raptors added to the count today were 7 Turkey Vultures, 3 Bald Eagles, 6 Northern Harriers, 11 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 2 Cooper's Hawks, 3 Northern Goshawks, 196 Broad-winged Hawks, 14 Red-tailed Hawks, 7 Rough-legged Hawks, 1 Golden Eagle, 4 American Kestrels, 2 Merlins, 3 Peregrine Falcons, and one unidentified buteo. Also seen from the platform today an adult female Rusty Blackbird, sadly a bird rapidly plummeting toward extinction. Good sparrow variety at the feeders, with American Tree, Chipping, Song, Lincoln's, White-throated, White-crowned, Vesper and Clay-colored Sparrows present today.

Strange weather

What began as a rainy day, turned into a foggy day for a few hours, then finally a beautiful, sunny afternoon. As soon as the fog rolled out to the lake, early afternoon, there were birds in the air. The broadwing/redtail flock quickly grew to 123 Broad-winged Hawks and 28 Red-tailed Hawks, including a juvenile dark/intermediate redtail, presumably the same individual from yesterday. (The 'Krider's' type bird wasn't seen again today.)

The afternoon flight again turned into a pretty good Peregrine Falcon flight. A total of 8 Peregrines were counted, tying with May 4 for highest day count so far. This species is now a daily sighting, or at least has been for 6 days straight. Most of today's birds were adults, but this is an immature.

Cooper's Hawk is not quite a daily sighting, but I had one again today. This is an immature bird. Other sightings included 3 Ospreys, 3 Bald Eagles, 4 Northern Harriers, 87 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Red-shouldered Hawk, 12 Rough-legged Hawks, 1 Golden Eagle, 3 American Kestrels, and a Merlin.

Krider's Red-tailed Hawk?

The bird of the day was this unusually pale adult Red-tailed Hawk, showing several field marks good for 'Krider's' Red-tailed Hawk, a Great Plains race of the Red-tailed Hawk.

The bird was around for most of the day, and may very well still be present tomorrow.

It never got very close to the hawk platform, so my shots are very low quality. Still, the following distinguishing field marks are visible: extremely pale underparts, with practically no belly band; no markings on the underwing coverts; a pale head with a slightly darker malar mark and a neck strap; faint patagial bars.

Visible in the field, but not in my photos, were the following field marks: extensive white spotting on the upperwing coverts; basal part of the tail white, distal part orange-reddish.

Jerry Liguori in Hawks From Every Angle warns against confusing pale eastern borealis redtails with Krider's, but those birds generally exhibit only one or two Krider's-like characteristics. Our bird appears to show all those characteristics.

Chris Neri may have better photos of this bird... to be continued.

There was also a juvenile dark/intermediate Red-tailed Hawk present today. Other sightings included 9 Turkey Vultures, 1 Osprey, 10 Bald Eagles, 10 Northern Harriers, 259 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 2 Cooper's Hawks, 3 Northern Goshawks, 59 Broad-winged Hawks, 19 Red-tailed Hawks, 21 Rough-legged Hawks, 2 Golden Eagles, 4 American Kestrels, 2 Peregrine Falcons, and 2 unidentified buteos. The total count was 403 raptors.

On sharpshins

Joe Nault covered the count for me today, and recorded another pretty good early May flight, similar to what we've been seeing for a number of days now, albeit with fewer buteos. Roughlegs actually did do pretty well today. Many thanks for providing me with a day off, Joe!

Overall count reached 481 today, and included the following raptors: 12 Turkey Vultures, 14 Bald Eagles, 12 Northern Harriers, 380 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 3 Northern Goshawks, 8 Broad-winged Hawks, 5 Red-tailed Hawks, 27 Rough-legged Hawks, 1 Golden Eagle, 16 American Kestrels, and 3 Peregrine Falcons.

Sharp-shinned Hawks still dominate the flight, although their peak flight probably occured last week, when a couple of days had more than 1,000 sharpies. Right now, there's a mix of adults and immatures migrating through Whitefish Point. Soon, the flight will be dominated by juveniles. For practically all raptors, adults precede juveniles in spring. This makes sense, because the adults need to be on territory by a certain time (which differs per species). Show up later, and the best spots to raise a family will be taken by someone else already.

At some other sites I've counted I have seen a two-peak seasonal pattern in Sharp-shinned Hawk migration, with the first peak consisting largely of adults and the second largely of juveniles. This two-peaked pattern appears not to occur, at least not as a rule, at Whitefish Point. Here, as records show, the percentage of juveniles gradually increases as the season progresses, without a secondary peak.

Top bird is an adult male, with fine barring across the chest and a dark red eye. Second bird a subadult female, with body feathers showing a mix of mostly juvenile feathers (streaking) with some adult feathers (barring) growing in, and a yellow-orange eye. Both photos taken today.

Great Peregrine and Golden Eagle day

Clear skies and hardly any wind set the stage for a pretty good hawk flight, with highlights being 9 Golden Eagles - 8 of which were seen soaring together - and 8 adult Peregrine Falcons. I felt bad for one of our visitors, who stayed a little later than planned hoping to see at least one Peregrine, and when she left said "you'll probably get it after I'm gone". About 20 minutes after she left, we got the first one, with 7 more to follow. All these birds were in the afternoon.

Again several kettles of broadwings were visible throughout the day, this time their count reached 493. Overall count (all raptors combined) was 704 today.

Tomorrow's (Tuesday) weather forecast looks particularly good for a hawk flight, and may produce a big broadwing flight. With stronger SE winds, birds should be right overhead and not too high.

Decent early May day

Sunday was a pretty decent early May Whitefish Point hawk watching day, with broadwing numbers still increasing, and the highest day count for Peregrine Falcon yet. Golden Eagles again put in a good showing, with at least 5 counted. That too is a day high count for this species, but it was reached three times earlier this season: twice in March (18th and 30th) and once in April (23rd).

As I've said before, on days like this when the winds aren't exactly favorable, it is not easy sorting out just how many Golden Eagles there are in the area, and what part of that number is really moving through, and what is there on multiple days. Golden Eagles were seen throughout the afternoon, flying out to the Point, sometimes past the Point, and very often returning. At least 4 of them were seen in the air at the same time, all juveniles. (The adult Golden Eagle flight is essentially over, they should really be on territory by now.) In the last hour of the count, a young Golden Eagle was seen flying at some altitude in a straight line toward and beyond the Point, with a Rough-legged Hawk in tow. I watched them until they were dots, and they were not seen returning. Now if this was a bird that had tried many times earlier today and this time finally made it, or whether this was a new, gutsy individual that went on the first try... who can say for sure?

Most Broad-winged and Red-tailed Hawks also mill around, very afraid of all that water between Whitefish Point and Ontario. There were small kettles of broadwings around for much of the day, but I didn't see any leave the Point for Canada, although some of them probably did.

The total count today reached 535, and included 11 Turkey Vultures, 4 Bald Eagles, 5 Northern Harriers, 135 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 3 Northern Goshawks, 307 Broad-winged Hawks, 26 Red-tailed Hawks, 18 Rough-legged Hawks, 5 Golden Eagles, 13 American Kestrels, 1 Merlin, 4 Peregrine Falcons, and two unidentified (distant) buteos.

A few more broadwings

A few more broadwings were counted today by Nathan, who used to be a counter here some years ago, while I (John) had a day off. Thanks so much Nathan!

Best sightings today included those 123 Broad-winged Hawks, an adult Peregrine Falcon, 3 juvenile Golden Eagles, and 2 Merlins. The overall count got to 424, exactly half of them were Sharp-shinned Hawks.

There was also at least one Short-eared Owl around on the Point today.