Juvenile dark morph Harlan’s Hawk – Nikon D300, f8, 1/1250, ISO 500, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited
Harlan’s Hawks breed in Alaska and northern Canada and spend their winters in the northern Great Plains.
Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk is a subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk with distinct characteristics that set it apart from other Red-tailed Hawk subspecies.
Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk come in three morphs:
Dark morph: This is the most common type, making up approximately 55-60% of the Harlan’s Hawk population.
Intermediate morph: This is the second most common, comprising about 30-35% of the population.
Light morph: This is the rarest form, accounting for only about 5-10% of Harlan’s Hawks.
Lately I have been seeing reports that the Harlan’s have started to show up here in Utah again to over winter and that has me excited. I haven’t been able to photograph many Harlan’s Hawks but in January of 2013 I spotted and pointed out this juvenile dark morph Harlan’s feeding on a coot at Farmington Bay WMA.
This was during a very cold and snowy part of the winter when all of the raptors were having a hard time finding food to sustain them because of heavy snow cover on the ground.
Quite a few hawks, eagles and owls died during that cold stretch of time due to the harsh conditions we had.
I will be looking for Harlan’s Hawks now along with Rough-legged Hawks which are also Arctic breeders and hope to photograph some of them soon.
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my Red-tailed Hawk photos plus facts and information about this species.
They’re been seeing Rough-legged Hawks and Harlan’s Red-tails in small numbers at the Goshutes for the past week now Mia. Looking forward to the winter!
Thanks for this introduction of this subspecies for me. Nice to know they are here. My 2014 SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRDS says “generally uncommon, nesting in central Alaska and wintering mainly from Nebraska and Iowa to Texas and Arkansas, with small numbers west to California, but very rare eastward.”
Harlan’s Hawk just beautiful–Made my day better looking at such beauty! Thanks