Short-tailed Hawk (Buteo brachyurus), Paige Creek, Pima County

This Short-tailed Hawk was found and photographed by Keith Kamper on 05 June 2017

Short-tailed Hawk has been expanding its range northward and increasing in Arizona for the last several years and it has bred. Most reports are of light morph adult birds from montane forest in the southern "sky islands." There is an increasing number of reports from similar "foothill" locations. There are very few reports of dark morph individuals from the state.

Dark morph juvenile. Brownish (head and most of body), small raptor with speckled underwings, mottled body, darker solid breast, banded tail, grayish secondaries, and especially important is the large white patch on the basal half of the outer primaries.. Three emarginated primaries are inconsistent with other potential confusion species.

05 June 2017, photo by Keith Kamper

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