Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Short-tailed Hawk in flight

Pale morph Short-tailed Hawk, apparently an immature based on plumage pattern around the head. There don't seem to be reliable population estimates for Short-tailed Hawk, but the FL population is isolated and probably not all that large. It's also easily overlooked - superficially similar to immature Red-tailed Hawk - quite a few birders don't recognize Short-tailed when they see them, even along Anhinga Trail which is one of the most reliable places to see them in the winter. This bird was circling fairly low over me as it took off from near the Anhinga Trail visitor center at 9am. I saw a total of two pale morph and one dark morph at Anhinga over multiple visits, and one more dark morph at Shark Valley for a total of four on my recent FL trip. In FL the dark morph predominates in the population.

No comments: