The Red-tailed Hawk has a remarkably variable appearance. Plans today had been to try to find a reported dark-phase hawk—the markedly less common form. Alas, that expedition was postponed. So, I went for a drive and, unexpectedly, saw a Red-tailed Hawk, but the somewhat more common light phase.
When I say it is the somewhat more common form, I don’t mean to imply that this is an every-day sighting—it isn’t. Yet, this is the time of year that I begin to see Red-tailed Hawks along the North Shore of the West Arm of Kootenay Lake. Here is today’s hawk soaring as it looks for prey. (This picture does show the reason it has earned its name.)
