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 <[email protected]> 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 [email protected] > 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 [email protected]. > 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CA%2BhR3%2BsRm6fFVzoa-1gZY7iH3OLd8gKQU%3DOhDbU-poLcoEENfg%40mail.gmail.com.
