Posted by John Boyd on July 19, 2002 at 07:58:25:
In Reply to: Short tailed again posted by Paul on July 18, 2002 at 21:22:46:
: The short tailed hawk is hunting in the area between Parkland City Hall on holmberg road and University Drive and the Church site Mary Help of Christians at Sawgrass and University. The bird seems to favor the open field recently cleared north of the church and rests in the Cypress trees along the flood control canals. This bird is seen frequently at 6:00 -7:15 PM and its coming and going causes much panic and stress among the mixed mourning dove, ring-necked dove and white winged dove in the Cypress area. It calls repeatedly and frequently ascends to high altitude before circling down to tree top level. The color pattern doesnt fit exactly Kales, Shipley, or Thayers description. Anyone in the area that sees this bird we could use some help on a positive ident. The call is a frequent rapid kee keee kee kee. the white tail band is distinct but the bars aren't. color is predominately white underside but doesn't show the dark of the "dark phase" so much. It is very hard to approach closely to get binocular view. The lay of the land is such that the bird has the advantage.
After reading your description, I have to wonder why you are calling this a Short-tailed Hawk? The call is not the one I've heard from Short-taileds (live or recorded), although Sibley does mention such a call.
Your comments concerning the tail band are hard to understand. Short-tailed Hawks have many bands in their tails. A small buteo with big white band would likely be a Broad-winged (but again this is not a call I've heard from Broad-wingeds). This is certainly the wrong time of year for Broad-winged, but it is not unprecedented.
I'm also puzzled by your attempt to combine features from light and dark-form birds. Light and dark are not phases the bird goes through, rather it is one form or the other. Since a young Short-tailed may not have quite the clean white underparts of the adult light form, it could be the problem. Or it could be it is not a Short-tailed.
I would have emailed these comments if you had left contact info.