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Posted by John Boyd on 11:34:24 04/01/12
In Reply to: Re: Lucky Hammock Hawk ID posted by Dan Irizarry
Since the original photo was very underexposed, I liberated a copy of the photo from flickr and lightened it up before commenting.
I think Dan is right that it is a Short-tailed. Although Toe thought it was larger, my guess is that it was probably just lower than the vultures, causing a size illusion, as often happens with raptors.
Although a number of young dark morph hawks come into consideration (e.g., Swainson's, Red-tailed, Zone-tailed, Broad-winged) , they don't really fit. Swainson's simply doesn't have that pattern, Red-tailed would have broader wings, Zone-tailed would have more barring on all the flight feathers (no light patch), Broad-winged should show either no or a much larger light area (depending on backlighting). Less likely possibilities such as Rough-legged Hawk or young White-tailed Hawk don't really fit either.
As for Short-tailed, it looks like a Short-tailed should.
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