Hello all, Many thanks to everyone who responded to my query. The consensus is that it was indeed a leucocistic Red-tailed Hawk. A good start to my Christmas day.
What prompted me to ask my question was that when I went on the web to look for photos of FEHA and leucocistic RTHA, I came across some photos of FEHA with reddish tails (like this one <https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-0bWO-WJArvw%2FUqEdLjWqJRI%2FAAAAAAAABEY%2FnncrzrGB5KU%2Fs1600%2FFerr%2B02.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjerryliguori.blogspot.com%2F2013%2F12%2Fferruginous-hawks.html&docid=vPTMUm1AOJMkdM&tbnid=37KV74knZnWkDM%3A&vet=12ahUKEwi_0rnV-NTmAhUOnq0KHZPRCYE4rAIQMyhRMFF6BAgBEFc..i&w=956&h=576&itg=1&bih=912&biw=1833&q=ferruginous%20hawk%20tail%20feathers&ved=2ahUKEwi_0rnV-NTmAhUOnq0KHZPRCYE4rAIQMyhRMFF6BAgBEFc&iact=mrc&uact=8>), and this is also illustrated in the field guides (Peterson says it has a rufous wash on tail). FEHA would have been a nice Christmas present, but a leucocistic Red-tail is not to be sneezed at. On Wed, Dec 25, 2019 at 8:34 PM Arjun Guneratne <gunera...@macalester.edu> wrote: > Resending this, as it did not go through first time. > > Hello Minnesota birders, > > I need help with this ID. Any opinions on what this could be? > > This morning, I was driving down Montreal Avenue through the Highland Golf > Course when my daughter spotted a large raptor perched on the ground by the > road, tearing at something. It was large, perhaps bigger than a RTHA, > mostly white with dark brown mottling on its upperparts, a red tail, and > light brown streaks on its feathered upper legs and what looked like a > mottled brown collar around its neck. See links to photos. > > We stopped and I took several photographs. My first thought was that it > was a leucocistic Red-tailed Hawk but there are several points that don't > fit with that ID, including that it seemed a bit bigger and chunkier than > RTHA. The other possibility is that it is a (possibly leucocistic) > Ferruginous Hawk —which would be amazing. Anything else it could be? See > the photos below: > > 1. https://flic.kr/p/2i5kod8 > 2. https://flic.kr/p/2i5oMaJ > 3. https://flic.kr/p/2i5oNGw > > RTHA is most likely candidate, and it has a red-tail > > but could it be Ferruginous Hawk? > -legs aren't visible in any of my photos, but the tibia are heavily > feathered. > -there is no indication of a dark belly band (although if it is a > leucocistic RTHA, that might explain it). Might not be visible from the > angle I saw it, pretty much as in the photograph. > -bill very large relative to size of head > -my impression that it was larger than RTHA; quite a beefy looking bird. > -Hard to see the extent of the gape, but it seems to reach to below about > the midpoint of the eye > -the cere is yellow (this seems to be consistently the case with FEHA, > less so with RTHA, going by images on the web) > > Here's an image of FEHA that looks something like this bird in shape: > https://twitter.com/badlandsnps/status/793612380689338369 > > Help with this ID would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! > > -- > Arjun Guneratne > Professor of Anthropology > & Director of Asian Studies > Department of Anthropology > Macalester College > 1600 Grand Avenue > Saint Paul, MN 55105 > > Phone: (651) 696-6362 > Fax: (651) 696-6324 > > Students who wish to make an appointment to see me during regular office > hours, click here > <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/selfsched?sstoken=UU5kWlZtMXBRZTdhfGRlZmF1bHR8NDEzNDEzYjFhMGJlYTU5ZTU2ODdlZTA3ZjYxMTg0Y2I>; > if these times do not work for you, please email me to make an appointment > > President, Macalester AAUP All-Faculty Chapter > https://www.aaup.org/membership/join > > Book Review Editor for South Asia, > *The Journal of Asian Studies* > > Website > <http://www.macalester.edu/academics/anthropology/facultystaff/arjunguneratne/> > Publications <http://works.bepress.com/arjun_guneratne/> > > -- Arjun Guneratne Professor of Anthropology & Director of Asian Studies Department of Anthropology Macalester College 1600 Grand Avenue Saint Paul, MN 55105 Phone: (651) 696-6362 Fax: (651) 696-6324 Students who wish to make an appointment to see me during regular office hours, click here <https://calendar.google.com/calendar/selfsched?sstoken=UU5kWlZtMXBRZTdhfGRlZmF1bHR8NDEzNDEzYjFhMGJlYTU5ZTU2ODdlZTA3ZjYxMTg0Y2I>; if these times do not work for you, please email me to make an appointment President, Macalester AAUP All-Faculty Chapter https://www.aaup.org/membership/join Book Review Editor for South Asia, *The Journal of Asian Studies* Website <http://www.macalester.edu/academics/anthropology/facultystaff/arjunguneratne/> Publications <http://works.bepress.com/arjun_guneratne/> ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
