Xploring The Nature

I first spotted this black hawk over the week-end and from it's behavior and looks without binoculars thought it was a Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk. I has been very distant from the road when it perches so strained my long zoom and then cropping to get these pics. From it's whitish tail this is not one that I have seen here in recent weeks. It shows the black, rather than brown plumage found on Western Red-tails, a little white on it's face and most prominent is the whitish tail with dark tip. Interestingly there is a second Harlan's here that was perched several hundred yards from this one over fields. SeEtta

On my trip east of Pueblo I also found this dark morph Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk in the area near Lake Holbrook. Another very spooky hawk that would flush as soon as I turned off the engine of my car. Again mostly blackish plumage (altho a little more dark brown in it) with white lorals. It also had red in it's tail though it was multiple thin bands across it. SeEtta

Yesterday I drove east of Pueblo looking for Harlan's Red-tailed Hawks and any other raptors I could find. I was rewarded for my efforts with a total of 3 Harlan's, 1 Merlin and 1 Prairie Falcon in addition to 7 Western Red-tailed Hawks. This is the first Harlan's I found which was in far eastern Pueblo County. It was very, very skittish so the closest I could get for pics was 400-500 feet which put my extended zoom to it's max. And it only perched on trees on private property away from the public road.

In addition to the mostly black plumage speckled with a little white as seen on these Harlanii Red-tails, the white loral area on the face of this dark morph Harlan's can be seen in these pics. In the middle pic though it shows a reddish tail you can see it does not have the light scapulars so distinctive on the backs of perched Western Red-tailed Hawks. SeEtta

I found this Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk at dusk when I took a detour on my way home from Pueblo. Given the low light and the fact I took these shots from my car with the engine running (I had only a few seconds to shoot these before it flushed) these pics came out better than I expected. In the top shot the white loral area is visible as is the whitish undertail and some white spots on it's otherwise blackish underparts found on an adult dark morph Harlan's. The blurry bottom pic does show the silvery flight feathers contrasted against it's dark body and underwing coverts and it's whitish tail.  SeEtta