Sorry for the late post, I have had software issues that prevented me from generating these photos for comment.
Sunday, I saw this bird in Rosemount - in a developed neighborhood with mature trees (off McAndrews Rd).
I got a pic or two while it perched and saw it fly away. These are the best ones (cropped).
Definite Buteo shape in flight. The trailing edge of the the underwing was dark, the underside was mostly pale and faintly streaked -sorry, no better description than that.
But the color is confusing - Are gray Broad-wings expected? Could it be a Red-shouldered? Gray Hawk seems way out of the question. I have limited experience with Broadwings.
2 comments:
Wow, interesting Jim. I can see why you would think it looks like a Gray Hawk. A Gray Hawk should have a white U shape formed by the greater uppertail coverts at the base of the tail. While the photos aren't perfect, the second one seems to show that area reasonably well and I don't see any sign of that. The rest of the tail looks pretty much like a Gray Hawk. Of course, we are in Minnesota! :) I think lighting and bird coloration may come into play. I looked around online and there were some shots of grayish looking broad-tailed hawks. Too bad you don't have a shot of the belly. That would be interesting.
Thanks for looking at the pics, Kirk. I did see the belly as it flew away. It had a pretty clear white belly and underwings, with a trailing edge of dark in classic adult broad-wing plumage.
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