Observers: Douglas Dunaway
Email: paleoman@cebridge.net
Remote Name: 72.47.27.97
Date: 12/07/2006
Time: 04:51 PM -0500
Met Chris & Rosie Howard on Sunland Indian Res. Rd. this afternoon--no luck with sighting the dark Ferruginous Hawk. BUT....Chris has taken some excellent photos of this hawk and posted them to my original sighting on 11/29/2006. All you Ferruginous Hawk lovers out there can see some really great close-up photos of this good looking bird by following the link. Thanks Chris!
[Note from Chris: I had a tough time identifying this dark buteo. Douglas found it last week and was wondering if it were a Harlan's race Red-tail. The next day I saw it and didn't think it was a Harlan's, but instead felt it was a 'standard' dark morph Red-tail. Yesterday, 6 Dec 2006, I spent some time scoping the hawk (in the field along Sunland Indian Res Rd. It was on the southern-most irrigation wheels east of the road). With the scope, I could see feathered tarsi (legs), long yellow gape, and long pointed wings, all indicative of Ferruginous Hawk. I forgot to check for the white commas at the bend of the underwing in flight. Dark Morph FEHA are uncommon to rare; Sibley says only about 10% of the population. Several photos are are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/chris93514/DarkMorphFehaAtSunland?authkey=2dgg3_nldSI]