Intriguing Red-tailed Hawk

This adult bird was seen on Jan 2 in Portsmouth during the Nansemond River Christmas Count. It's strikingly white below and was even at a distance...the photos are cropped, but not otherwise changed...it really did appear that way...contrasting vividly as it flapped, with the quite dark upperside. There was some rather faint dark barring on the flight feathers that doesn't show up well in the photo. I think field guides are rather inconsistent in describing the varieties of Red-taileds across the continent, but to be fair, the variation is wide, posing challenging identifications.

At first appearing like the western Krider's to me, the dark, though thin patagials, not bleeding more into the wing, look better for the western Fuerte's. The dark on the head, I initially thought was more toward the collar, as can be shown in Krider's, but in the photo it actually appears to be more widespread on the head as in Fuerte's. The throat showed some white.

The underparts are nearly immaculate white and that small smudge on the breast is, I think, either a shadow on the rounded breast or perhaps some fine streaks or...maybe both. The tail appears reddish at the trailing end and whiter near the base.

The dark-ish upperside, however, shows a redder tail throughout, a better mark for Fuerte's and the light scapular spotting is quite restricted....usually more obvious in Krider's.

There don't appear to be weird-looking albino-type white markings to me. I'm not sure if anything rules out Fuerte's...the belly, patagials and head look pretty good, but I would appreciate any comments sent to me directly at   taberzz@aol.com

Brian Taber
CVWO