Date: 1/17/25 9:14 am From: Matthew O'Brien via groups.io <matthewobrien...> Subject: Re: [southbaybirds] Red-tailed Hawk - Juvenile Dark Morph or Juvenile Harlan's ?
This Red-tailed Hawk has been around the Ed Levin Park area for quite a while. My house is on Piedmont Road, just south of Calaveras Road.
I saw it earlier this week soaring with two others above our house, but I've also seen it - or its twin - sporadically the last two years or so. When I'm outdoors, I'm always watching the sky. (Hoping mainly for an errant California Condor. So far, no luck. But I've gotten virtually all of the local raptors from the yard.)
I'm of the persuasion that calling out a Red-tailed Hawk as a Harlan's is a misleading proposition. I consider 'Harlan's' as a Red-tailed morph, which shares a pattern of plumage which is admittedly somewhat distinctive and recurs. I've just seen way too many aberrant Red-tails across the West in my life - 73 years - to single out this pattern as indicating any special classification.
Do not disclose information that identifies the location of nesting birds of any species, to minimize stress on the nesting birds and the risk of vandalism or abuse.
