Zone-tailed Hawk in Marathon

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Posted by Mark Hedden on 12:05:30 10/26/05

Hey All:

Don t have much time to write this. Between phases of post-Wilma clean up.

I filled in for a couple of hours at the Florida Keys Raptor Migration project in Marathon yesterday. Amongst a healthy number of the usual suspects that were moving through Swainsons , Peregrines, Sharpies, Coopers , American Kestrels, Broad-wings we had a bird that looked an awful lot like a Turkey Vulture but not quite. It was pretty high up, streaming then kettling with a number of Broad-wings.

The bird was all dark underneath in body and in wing coverts. It s flight feathers primaries and secondaries were much lighter, having what I always think of as the ashy quality of a TV. But the wings were more slender and seemingly longer proportionally. The key difference was a strong white band across the underside of the tail.

When it wheeled the outer primaries were spread out in a very finger-like position.

Fortunately Chatty and Corey, the two official hawkwatchers for the project, had just returned from their adventures in the Northern Hurricane Zone (they rode things out in Hollywood) about an hour before.

I honestly can t remember who tuned in on the bird first probably one of them but we all got good looks at it probably between thirty seconds and a minute at first from the front side of the building, and then from the back. Quickly, before any of us consulted a book, we d all concurred on Zone-tailed Hawk. I saw my first one about ten days ago seemingly another era in Trinidad. Chatty has seen them before counting hawks at the Grand Canyon. Between her count experience at the Grand Canyon and in Vera Cruz, Corey guesses she s seen about 200 of them.

We did consult a Sibley s guide afterwards. Common Black-Hawk was out because its wings are far fatter in shape. Dark-phased Broad-winged Hawk was out because this bird was significantly larger than the light-phased Broad-wings it was kettling with (it had longer, more slender wings. Also it was shaped differently.

A Zone-tail sighting is not as crazy as it sounds. Tom Wilmers saw one twice in the Lower Keys about five years ago (it was written up I think this year in an FOS bulletin). The first time was on Big Pine, about 15 miles from the count site. The second time was on Boca Grand, which is west of Key West in the backcountry. So this bird would be the second record.

Corey and Chatty said they were going to type up their recollections of the bird and email them along to me once they have power and phone service again.

There are about 2,000 Turkey Vultures that reside in the Keys over the winter. Now I m going to have to look at every damn one of them. If you spend any time in the Keys soon, I recommend you do to.

Hope everyone made it through the storm alright.

Cheers,

Mark Hedden
Bone Island Bird Expeditions
"Birding Key West, the Lower Keys, and the Rest of the World."
www.boneisland.com
mark@boneisland.com
305-587-6059

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Comments:	: Hey All: : : Don t have much time to write this. Between phases of post-Wilma clean up. : : I filled in for a couple of hours at the Florida Keys Raptor Migration project in Marathon yesterday. Amongst a healthy number of the usual suspects that were moving through Swainsons , Peregrines, Sharpies, Coopers , American Kestrels, Broad-wings we had a bird that looked an awful lot like a Turkey Vulture but not quite. It was pretty high up, streaming then kettling with a number of Broad-wings. : : The bird was all dark underneath in body and in wing coverts. It s flight feathers primaries and secondaries were much lighter, having what I always think of as the ashy quality of a TV. But the wings were more slender and seemingly longer proportionally. The key difference was a strong white band across the underside of the tail. : : When it wheeled the outer primaries were spread out in a very finger-like position. : : Fortunately Chatty and Corey, the two official hawkwatchers for the project, had just returned from their adventures in the Northern Hurricane Zone (they rode things out in Hollywood) about an hour before. : : I honestly can t remember who tuned in on the bird first probably one of them but we all got good looks at it probably between thirty seconds and a minute at first from the front side of the building, and then from the back. Quickly, before any of us consulted a book, we d all concurred on Zone-tailed Hawk. I saw my first one about ten days ago seemingly another era in Trinidad. Chatty has seen them before counting hawks at the Grand Canyon. Between her count experience at the Grand Canyon and in Vera Cruz, Corey guesses she s seen about 200 of them. : : We did consult a Sibley s guide afterwards. Common Black-Hawk was out because its wings are far fatter in shape. Dark-phased Broad-winged Hawk was out because this bird was significantly larger than the light-phased Broad-wings it was kettling with (it had longer, more slender wings. Also it was shaped differently. : : A Zone-tail sighting is not as crazy as it sounds. Tom Wilmers saw one twice in the Lower Keys about five years ago (it was written up I think this year in an FOS bulletin). The first time was on Big Pine, about 15 miles from the count site. The second time was on Boca Grand, which is west of Key West in the backcountry. So this bird would be the second record. : : Corey and Chatty said they were going to type up their recollections of the bird and email them along to me once they have power and phone service again. : : There are about 2,000 Turkey Vultures that reside in the Keys over the winter. Now I m going to have to look at every damn one of them. If you spend any time in the Keys soon, I recommend you do to. : : Hope everyone made it through the storm alright. : : Cheers, : : Mark Hedden : Bone Island Bird Expeditions : "Birding Key West, the Lower Keys, and the Rest of the World." : www.boneisland.com : mark@boneisland.com : 305-587-6059
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