On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
It’s Albatrossity Monday! Origuy takes us to Italy for a day. Who goes to Italy just for one day? Maybe spend another day in Italy soon. TKH takes us on another adventure, and we end the week with Steve from Mendocino and JanieM.
I have really enjoyed our Christmas When We Were Kids posts these last couple of years, so I’d like to do that again for the two weeks before Christmas, starting a week from today. So hard to believe that Christmas is so close! I kind of feel like I’m in a holding pattern, waiting for the results of the GA runoff. I imagine we’ll know the results tomorrow, and then the world will start spinning again.
Anyway… please start sending in your Christmas pics!
Albatrossity
Something different for this week. As you may know, my corner of the continent is a winter home for Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) from the north, who find our winter climate and abundance of small rodents to be quite hospitable. I have been taking pictures of winter redtails in this area for the past several years, and have become fascinated by the tremendous variety of plumages for this raptor.
There are 7 or 8 fairly distinctive subspecies found in the USA, and 5 of them winter here regularly. These subspecies also interbreed, so in addition there are intergrade birds, who share plumage characters of both parents (the word “hybrid” is reserved for crosses between species, “intergrade” is the term for crosses between subspecies). I’ve also figured out, finally, that there is no good single field mark for identifying these birds at the subspecies level; you need a combination of field marks to narrow down your choices. So you need multiple angles and views to really give yourself a chance at a subspecies (or intergrade) ID.
Photoshop allows me to combine images of the same bird, in which I can view the front, the back, the wing from top and/or bottom, and (most usefully) the topside of the tail. So here are some of those composites. I won’t bore you with pointing out all of the plumage characters. I’ll give you my best guess at a subspecies ID; feel free to speculate on those in the comments if you desire. Meanwhile, just enjoy some views of the most variable raptor on the planet.
Our standard summertime breeding subspecies, adult bird with a red tail. Buteo jamaicensis borealis. Click for larger image.
Juvenile bird (note the banded tail and yellow iris), hatched out in the spring of 2022 and experiencing its first winter ever. Click for larger image.
A visitor from the north, B. j. abieticola, Dark throat, lots of pigmentation on the underside. Click for larger image.
All of the birds above are what is called a “light morph”, with substantial amounts of white on the plumage. This is a dark morph Harlan’s Hawk (B. j. harlani), a visitor from far northern Canada or even Alaska. A Red-tailed Hawk without the red tail. Click for larger image.
Another dark-morph, another Harlan’s Hawk. Also no red tail, but no resemblance between the tail of this one and the one above. Every Harlan’s Hawk has a different (and unique) tail pattern and color. Click for larger image.
From dark to light. This bird is probably an intergrade, but one of the parents was probably the lightest subspecies, Krider’s Hawk (B. j. kriderii). Click for larger image.
Another intergrade with some Krider’s lineage. Click for larger image.
Dark-morphs are known to occur in the Harlan’s subspecies and also in the western (B. j. calurus) subspecies. It is speculated that there might be dark morph birds in the northern (B. j. abieticola) subspecies as well. This could be one of those, this could be an intergrade. It’s a cool-looking bird, regardless. Click for larger image.
Light-morph bird that really doesn’t seem to fit neatly into any subspecies bin, at least IMHO. Click for larger image.
raven
Is this a red tail hawk?
J.
Wow! Those photos are amazing! 😍
OzarkHillbilly
Now I know why sometimes I’ll see a hawk and have no idea which it is. Which is great because any time I see a hawk I can’t for the life of me identify, I can just say, “Must be an intergrade.” and I don’t have to feel stupid.
So BONUS!
JeanneT
I like these composites, even though I am now convinced I will never be able to ID these birds beyond saying ‘that’s a hawk’. And if I can see the eye, whether it’s a juvenile…. The variability in markings is much higher than I expected!
SteveinPHX
As said above, I will be introducing “intergrade” into my birding vocabulary. There are lots of hawks here in AZ, even in the burbs. I knew there was some variety, but this opened my eyes!
Thanks!
The Castle
These are amazing pictures!
I have had a difficult time definitively IDing the locals, and now I know why. I actually use behavior as much as plumage to figure out who’s who.
Raptors are one reason why I stopped using poison for the abundant local rodent population long ago.
evodevo
Well, no wonder I have trouble identifying them lol…thank you so much for the info….
Spanky
Well, if he won’t bang his own drum, I will.
Birds of Flyover Country 2023.
Albatrossity
@raven: That is a first-year Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus). That ID is based on the lack of a defined belly-band and the white checkered pattern on the wings. Whereabouts was this bird seen?
@OzarkHillbilly: Yes, intergrade is an excellent fall-back ID for any confusing redtail. Glad to have introduced you to it!
@Spanky: Thanks for the calendar mention! Much appreciated
mvr
These are all great and the several image composites do help with getting a sense of that particular bird. I suppose there is some chance that I will eventually be able to distinguish Harlan’s Hawks from the rest, but part of me is just feeling inferior for not reliably being able to tell species, let alone subspecies apart.
Thanks for the great photos as always!
sab
We had one of those parked on a tree in our yard. Huge bird!
Also too we had a weird squirrel. It was feeding under the bird feeder. Periodically it would fall over with its legs out stiff. Then it would get up and feed for a while, then fall over, then get up and feed again. Strange behavior.
raven
@Albatrossity: On the telephone line across the street from my house in Athens, GA.
Albatrossity
@raven: Thanks! Yes, they are pretty common in the SE USA, and also seem to tolerate civilization, houses, and people pretty well. There is a pair of these that nest somewhere in the woods behind the house, and they can be very noisy during the nesting and baby-feeding months!
raven
@Albatrossity: Not as clear of a shot.
opiejeanne
@sab: A fainting squirrel? Like fainting goats?
raven
This is a shot of an owl that got trapped in our yard a fewer years back. Our wildlife biologist neighbor explained that it had been subject to “mobbing” behavior. It was something, it was in the tree most of the day and just stood there while the bluejays attacked it and wore the feather off the back of the head.
Albatrossity
@raven: Yeah, that second shot confirms it is a Red-shouldered Hawk. Skinnier legs than a redtail, and wide dark bands on the tail.
The owl shot is amazing. Jays are persistent bullies, for sure!
Steve from Mendocino
I rarely give birds a second thought (except to watch them steal cat food out of the dish), but having multiple images in the frame demands that the viewer look more closely at what’s going on. Thank you! I’ve learned something.
sab
@opiejeanne: That’s what my husband said. But why aren’t all the other squirrels fainting? They are all from the same neighborhood so I assume they are all cousins.
sab
After checking the intertoobs, fainting squirrels are actually a thing. So I will stop worrying about our squirrel ( except for the raptor flapping above him/her. )
raven
@Albatrossity: Thanks!
stinger
Simply gorgeous! Well, simple for me; a bit of work was involved for you, I expect. Thanks, David!
JanieM
Hmmm….thought i posted a comment, don’t see it, wonder if it went to moderation. Or maybe I just need my caffeine.
Either way — wonderful pics, Albatrossity. I love the patterns, and the variation thereof……
Xavier
Albatrossity, the discussion of morphs seems to be a good time to ask a question I’ve had for a while: do birds ever exhibit albinism?
BigJimSlade
Wow – thanks for these albatrossity! A real Tour de (lethal) Force!
Origuy
I can barely distinguish a hawk from a turkey vulture when I see them silhouetted against the sky. Such diversity!
WaterGirl, I have 1000 more pictures from Italy. I will put together a few more sets. Most are from museums or sites like Pompeii. The essential stops for a history buff on his first trip to Italy.
Albatrossity
@Xavier: Yes, there are records of albino birds of many species, including hawks and even crows. I once saw an albino Barn Swallow, and have some crappy pics in a box of Kodachrome slides somewhere. Very spooky!
@Steve from Mendocino: Thanks. Yes, the patterns on some of these birds can be fascinating. Grab one of the larger images and convert it to grayscale and check those out.
J R in WV
@raven:
One morning as I left for work early in the morning, I went out the front door to see a great horned owl on the chimney of the house across the street, around 1976 =- a couple of years. The owl was being mobbed by crows, not a lot of them, 6 or 8. Then the owl leapt off the chimney and killed two crows with its talons, just grabbed them and crushed enough of them for them to fall to the roof below.
After a little more swooping by crows, big owl flew over into a big spruce tree, where the crows could no longer come at him in groups. Shortly after that the flock of crows left, and I left too for work. Was awesome to see, tho.
Now we have barred owls in the neighborhood, very interesting birds, will call and respond, and I’m able to talk with them enough for them to respond to my calls as well as each other’s. We see them from time to time, but they’re pretty shy. One did sit on a tiny branch just outside the kitchen solarium windows one afternoon, Wife watched it watching her for nearly half an hour! Was max 20 feet away, staring back at Wife.
Parfigliano
Last year went out door. Red tail that for whatever couldnt fly. Loud and proud with the talons. Hop towards me with talons out. Watched it for about 2 hours. Called some people and got hold of some people and rescued