If we were all the same, we wouldn’t need menus in restaurants.
Today, let’s celebrate lack-of-sameness in all its glory.
With most species, the bird in the book looks the bird in the tree. I mean, that’s the point of field guides — if you make note of the plumage, you can find the birds’ picture and figure out their ID. It gets a little trickier with differences between male and female, juvenile and adult, subspecies and some geographic differences. (Looking at you, Song Sparrows.)
Buteos seem to show more variability than most other families of birds, at least in the US, where I live. In addition to subspecies and geographic variation, about half of the North American species also have different color morphs — light, dark and some intermediate morphs as well.
And then there are redtails.
They do all they can to make a mockery of field marks and ID guides. Does it have a red tail? Sure, unless it’s a juvenile or a Harlan’s subspecies. Belly band? Not every redtail has one (and other species have them too). Patagial* marks? Yep, but sometimes you can’t actually see them all that well because the plumage is so dark that it obscures the marks.
* Patagial mark is the dark line at the leading edge of a redtail’s wing when seen from below. They’re the only north American hawk who shows that mark.
Redtails breed in every state except Hawaii , as well as in Canada and Mexico. They are found in a wide range of habitats, from Southwest deserts to agricultural lands to urban downtowns to boreal forests, and pretty much everything in between. The fact that they have been able to make a home in so many places may have something to do with their wildly variable plumage. Or not.
They range from very pale, lightly marked individuals to coal-black birds. Though there is a geographic component to their coloration (lighter in the southwest and great plains, darker toward the coasts and in the west) that does not explain all of the variety. Here in California, 5-10% of our redtails are dark morphs, and even the “standard” bird of our western subspecies, B.j. calurus, has rich tones that can appear dark in some lighting conditions. Our cover bird is a good example.
I admit I’m biased — I think our California birds are the best looking, just because of the shear variety and the richness of color in so many of them. One cool thing is that they all mix it up — light, medium and dark all interbreed, and their nestlings come out different color combos.
Another cool thing is that leucistic redtails turn up regularly. I don’t know if they are more prone to leucism than other birds, or if it’s just that there are so many redtails out there that even a small percentage of leucistic birds is still a pretty good number of individuals. I have some great photos of one of them… somewhere. After spending close to an hour looking for them, you’ll just have to take my word that the snowy white hawk was gorgeous.
I can say in all honesty that the sheer variety of redtail plumage is what turned me into a plumage geek. The differences in tone, the nearly endless possible combinations of brown, amber, red, black and white, the mixture of patterns… they seem as unique as fingerprints. They may be common, but it seems no two are quite alike.
The following is a small mix of the redtail spectrum, mostly from locations within 100 miles of my house. Enjoy!
(re: birds in hand: Birds handled and banded with appropriate training and permits.)
Please feel free to show off your local redtails, in all their diverse spendidness!