Posted by David Vander Pluym (152.163.207.54) on May 11, 2000 at 17:04:31:
In Reply to: Re: Horrible hawks posted by Joe Morlan on May 04, 2000 at 15:27:51:
Broad-winged Hawk is a reasonable candidate for this bird, but what about juvenile Gray Hawk? This bird appears to show barred leg feathers and conspicuous white tips to the uppertail coverts. Would a Broad-winged Hawk show those marks?
First I have to agree the bird on the left is a Broad-winged Hawk and the bird on the right is a Sharp-shinned Hawk for the same reason other people have already addressed. But what got me to post was Joe Morlan's question about Gray Hawk. Although i have little expirence (having seen only one imm in South Texas) or with imm Broad-wings (as far as I can remember having seen only adults). I took a look at what Hawks of North America by William S. Clark and Brian K. Wheeler had to say and also looked in my notes as to why i had felt the bird I saw in Texas was a Gray Hawk. The points the book gives on identifying imm Gray Hawks is the face pattern, tail pattern, leg feathers, and the uppertail coverts. Unfortunetly we cannot see the tail on this hawk very well which was a major point I used the one time I saw an imm. On a Gray Hawk the tail should have 5 or more dark bands while Broad -wings should have 4 or fewer. Gray Hawks should show a very strong face pattern. The brown eye stripe and malar stripe should stand out against the white cheeck and supercilium. This is I do see on the bird on the left though it appears to have a stronger face pattern then a Red-shoulder should show a Gray Hawk should show an even stronger one. And now to address Joe Morlans two questions. The leg feathers should be streaked on a Broad-winged and barred on a Gray Hawk. The bird on the left shows about the right amount of streaking for a Broad-winged. Also of note I believe Red-shouldered should also show barred leg feathers. As for the white uppertail coverts Broad-wings is brown with some white as opposed to Gray Hawks which is white with little brown. The amount of white on the bird looks about right for Broad-winged. I would see the bird looks about right for Broad-winged though with one picture where you can't see all the field marks it is hard to say.