BIRDING TO THE EDG

Yesterday, I was jogging myself through Cherry Creek State Park in Denver, CO to see what migration has brought to the table thus far. I wasn't expecting much but the American-White Pelicans and Western Grebes are back on the front range along with many other waterbirds and songbirds. Cherry Creek is a neatly placed reservoir on Denver's southeast side surrounded by many Cottonwoods and a few marshes. Many birds are attracted to this type of environment for a quick pick-me-up while on their way to their breeding grounds.

I always have many different types of equipment in my car since you never know what you might need. I found that the Nikon Monarch X was real helpful in chasing down the bird you see in the pictures in this post. The hawk flew out of the tree and away from me, so there was a bit of hustling going on to position myself for a photo. The Monarch X only weighs 24 ounces which is extremely light when compared to other binoculars in the $600 price range. The light wasn't very good but I could really see the difference in using a binocular with the dielectric coating, such as the Monarch X.

What is a dielectric coating, you might ask? Glass has a natural tendency of reflect light. Obviously, we (as birders) want that light to make it to our eyes so we can have the brightest and sharpest image out there. A dielectric coating is a coating made from magnesium and calcium fluorides along with other elements as well. Nikon's engineers have figured out the perfect amount of these coatings to place on the sub-prism of the binocular to allow more light through (10% more to be exact) and lose less light through refracting and reflecting.

The combination of lightweight and light transmission was key in trying to identify this hawk. Given the habitat, this hawk was quickly identified as a Red-tailed Hawk. Red-tailed Hawks often like open areas with the edge consisting of some riparian sections. Other hawks that would fit the Buteo mold would be Rough-legged Hawk and the Ferruginous Hawk this time of year, but there are factors going against them. Ferruginous Hawk would be much blockier in shape and also have a large gape extending from the mouth. Even a dark-morphed Ferruginous Hawk would not have the streaking throughout the body and would have a white tail. Rough-legged Hawks would have shoulders that appear more hunched up as well as distinctive dark carpal areas under the wings. The juvenile dark Rough-legged Hawks would also have a clean black breast to go along with a multi-colored tail developing.

Want more pictures of Harlan's Hawks? Check out Bill Schmoker's website! Hits shots are killer!

While I had my Monarch X's on this bird it started doing some kind of figure-8 type of flight in mid-air. Holy crap! I couldn't believe it. I never expected to see something like that out of a Harlan's Hawk. I guess I am still learning things everyday.

As I look at the photos here I can clearly see a light-colored eye which automatically tells me that this is a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. Red-tails are such a common sight around North America that most could look at this bird and see something is odd. Red-tailed Hawks come all different variations and subspecies. So which one is this?

What we are looking at here is a juvenile "Intermediate" Harlan's Hawk as described by Brian Wheeler in, "Raptors of Western North America." Look at the banded tail! The bands are all of even width (except for the thicker sub-terminal band which is normal) along with the banded vent and undertail coverts. These things are very indicative of the Harlan's race of the Red-tailed Hawk. The whitish band across the breast along with the dark throat also act as clues to this identification.

The Harlan's Hawk breeds in Alaska and northern Canada but makes it's way down to the midwest United States for the winter time. Harlan's Hawks can be just as variable within themselves as Red-tailed Hawks are within their species. So the lesson here is that every Red-tailed Hawk can be different, so look closely for the differences in each. One of our prized Nikon Birding ProStaff members, Shawneen Finnegan, is a professional artist and has illustrated many species of birds. I will have to ask her on her opinion on Harlan's Hawk variability, because artists always see the minute details.

We are in the process of building a website for Nikon Birding! Please come check it out when you can. Nikon Sport Optics are proud supporters of tundra and taiga management to help protect birds like the Harlan's Hawk and others from habitat loss. Nikon sponsors the Owl Research Institute out of Charlo, Montana which is run by Denver Holt. You might remember a National Geographic cover years ago with a beautiful Snowy Owl on the cover??? Well, that was Denver's project they were interviewing. Please visit the ORI's website for more information.

Thanks for reading and as always, GOOD BIRDING!