Haggard red-tail?

[Parysa]

Is this a haggard red-tail hawk? The pictures were taken by a friend of mine near the Valley of Fire in NV.




Photo credit Leena Worthy.

[PeteJ]

Yes, its an adult. Frequently RTs in the west will have barring all the way up their reddish tails. The most obvious adult trait on that one is the fine barring on the lower breast. An immature would not have that fine of barring.

[FredFogg]

Hmmm, I was thinking the red tail kind of gave it away. LOL

[PeteJ]

Hmmm, I was thinking the red tail kind of gave it away. LOL

On my monitor it doesn't look that red, really sort of a muddy rust. My point was, that in the west when the birds have barring on their tails and their tail is say orange brown, that often the fine breast feather barring will give it away. Some western RTs have reddish tails as immatures Fred.

[FredFogg]

On my monitor it doesn't look that red, really sort of a muddy rust. My point was, that in the west when the birds have barring on their tails and their tail is say orange brown, that often the fine breast feather barring will give it away. Some western RTs have reddish tails as immatures Fred.

And really dark eyes! I am just pulling your chain Pete! LOL

[Parysa]

Thanks, guys. That's what I thought, but like Pete said, the tail doesn't look all that red to me and it threw me. The head looks fairly light. With the light head and white on his back, would that be a Krider's or is that normal? I'm trying to learn to identify them.

[PeteJ]

Thanks, guys. That's what I thought, but like Pete said, the tail doesn't look all that red to me and it threw me. The head looks fairly light. With the light head and white on his back, would that be a Krider's or is that normal? I'm trying to learn to identify them.

Not a Kriders, they are much much paler. Probably this is a calurus specimen, commonly referred to as the Western RT. Here's a link to some pics of various RTs showing just how variable they can get, and I think that the pics on his page are basically all Colorado, New Mexico birds, although I didn't look that closely at all of them. http://schmoker.org/BirdPics/RTHA.html
Kriders look like this:
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2333/1...b28_z.jpg?zz=1
http://www.mattmilesphoto.com/wp-con...sog48w.th.jpeg

[Parysa]

Thanks, Pete. I can definitely tell the difference. Most of what I've read just says the Kriders have some white and a pale head. "Pale" can mean a lot of different things. There's a really pretty haggard RT near my house that Joan Marie pointed out to me. We've gone out and watched him--we think it's male from the size--a couple times. He's got a fairly pale head, but it's rufous (sp?) rather than white. Now that I'm starting to look for them, they're EVERYWHERE! We drove down a main road here that I drive all the time and I saw five or six where I've never noticed any before.

Seriously, guys, thanks for the answers. I'm trying to not ask too many stupid questions. :P

ETA: Pete, your bird is stunning! What is it?

[PeteJ]

Which of my birds? The one in the Rednaped Shaheen/Barbary thread is a Teita Falcon X Barbary Falcon hybrid. The one in my avatar is a tiercel Western Cooper's Hawk.
And yes, RTs are very common when you start to develop a search image for them. And one of the most variable in plumage coloration of all the raptors. Don't be the least bit surprised that you might have difficulty identifying the various races, as even the professionals sometimes have the same problem.

[Parysa]

I was talking about the Cooper's Hawk. He is just gorgeous. The falcon is really pretty, too, but he's breathtaking. I love his colors!