A juvenile or subadult Krider's Red-tailed Hawk has spent at least the last two days and we understand a few earlier days at the Black Dog Road exit off of 35W. It was easiest and safest to see from either the north bound or south bound entrance ramps, depending on which side of the road it was on. We saw it on both sides at different times.
This bird is probably the purest Krider's that we have ever seen. Its' tail is predominately white with thin black bands. The head as well as most of the underparts are white. The back is speckled black and white with very little brown on the bird. We think it is most likely a subadult and not a juvenile because of the lack of brown and since it still has the thinly banded tail. Although there is a lot of white on this bird there is no true albinism that we were able to see. It compares very favorably with the photos in Brian Wheelers "Raptors of Western North America". We suspect that this bird will not stay here long, even though it appears to be successful in hunting, as most Krider's winter south of Missouri and Kansas in east Texas and Louisiana. Be very careful looking at this bird. This highway as you all well know is very busy. We would not stop on the highway to look at this bird at all, but would only use the much slower moving on ramps. Also seen today was a subadult Golden Eagle migrating past Lake Byllesby into Goodhue County. Lots of Bald Eagles, both adults and juvs, were migrating everywhere. The Black Scoter was still present on Byllesby today as well at two additional Black Scoters were on east Black Dog Lake yesterday. Dennis and Barbara Martin [email protected]
