Wynndel’s Harlan’s

This is a posting that only an ardent birder could enjoy: the apparent sighting of a Harlan’s Hawk near Wynndel. (That this bird was a Harlan’s has now been confirmed by Brian Wheeler who examined six of the pictures taken of it.)

The day was sunny, so Derek Kite and I took our cameras for a Sunday drive around the Creston flats. This is the region at the south end of Kootenay Lake that, prior to the dykes, would seasonally become part of the Lake. It is now largely open agricultural land. The crops attract rodents, and these in turn, attract coyotes and raptors, so it is a good place to see hawks. Quite a few Red-tailed Hawks were seen on the drive and I attach the best shot of one in flight (taken by Derek).

Rick Howie assesses the pictures: We can rule out Rough-legged hawk quickly due to the lack of a prominent belly band. It would be much darker and more extensive on all but perhaps light male adult Roughies. I think we can all agree that this is a juvenile bird based upon the white patches on the folded wing and showing on the back of the flying bird, the strongly-banded tail with no rufous showing, the heavily-barred underwings and pale iris. I think the white throat rules out various morphs of the typical western B.j. calurus form. The darker black-brown tints and white throat suggest B.j. harlani to me. The broad white supercilium also fits the intermediate morph of harlani. So my thinking at the moment is juvenile Harlan’s Hawk in some sort of intermediate morph plumage.

Among the various red-tails, there was one seen just south of the community of Wynndel that had the right body plan, but a somewhat odd plumage. Yet, it was beyond my skills to know what it was. A knowledgeable birder, Rick Howie, suggested that the pictures show a Harlan’s Hawk.

The Harlan’s is (by most accounts) a subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk, but it breeds far north of here and generally winters far south. The only time one would usually expect to see a Harlan’s in this area is during migration. While there have been scattered reports of Harlan’s wintering elsewhere in the BC interior, none had been known to winter around here.

First, Derek’s spectacular picture of a characteristic local Red-tailed Hawk with its buff colouring.

Then, the two pictures of the Harlan’s Hawk, first in a tree,

and then in flight.

Feel free to weigh in on the identification.