Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis harlani), Marana Pecan Grove, Pima County

This immature light morph "Harlan's" Red-tailed Hawk was discovered and photographed by Andrew Core on 13 December 2009.

Harlan's Hawk has been considered a full species at different times (1829-1895 and 1957-1973), but it is now treated as a subspecies of the widespread Red-tailed Hawk. It breeds in Alaska and northwest Canada and winters throughout the western half of the continent. Uncommon throughout its winter range, it is apparently rare in Arizona.  But, since it is now treated as a subspecies and because it can be difficult to identify, it is rarely reported and its status in the state is uncertain.

Harlan's Hawks occur in a continual gradation from dark to light but most often as a dark morph. Birds on the light end of the scale are rare; few light-morph Harlan's Hawks have been found in Arizona. Keys to identifying a Harlan's Hawk are overall color and the tail. Typical light-morph birds have blackish upperparts that lack warm brown tones, with white markings on the scapulars. Head shows strong facial pattern. Underparts (including throats) are white, without the rufous tones of other Red-tails. The belly band is light or moderate (lacking in "Krider's" Red-tailed Hawks) and the wings have dark patagial marks, unlike Krider's. The wingtips of a Harlan's fall short of the tip of the tail. In contrast to other races of Red-tailed Hawk (and even other buteos), tail patterns in Harlan's Hawk are extraordinarily varied. According to Bill Clark, co-author of "A Photographic Guide to North American Raptors," no two Harlan's tails are exactly alike in color and pattern. Tails can be barred, mottled, spotted, or a combination of all three; often have wavy dark bands, which can be light or heavy, narrow or wide, partial or complete. The color can be white, gray, rufous, with any shade in between, or a combination,. Individual feathers will often have a different pattern or color than other feathers in the same tail!

On this particular bird, the lack of rufous tones in the plumage, the whitish superciliary, wide and wavy dark tail bands, white spotting on the uppersides are all harlani traits.

References:

Clark, W.S. 2009.  Extreme variation in the tails of Harlan's Hawks.  Birding 41:30-36.  http://www.aba.org/birding/v41n1p30.pdf

Mindell, D.P. 1983.  Harlan's Hawk (Buteo jamaicensi harlani): a valid subspecies.  Auk 100:161-169.
http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v100n01/p0161-p0169.pdf

Wheeler, B.K. and W.S. Clark.  1995.  A Photographic Guide to North American Raptors.  Princeton University Press, Princeton.

13 December 2009, photo by Andrew Core

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