Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2003 23:49:16 EST Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Louis Nielsen Subject: Red-shoulder subspecies?? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit At 8:30 a.m., Mari wakes me to tell me that there is a "big bird" in the yard. I stagger out to the kitchen and look out the window. There, perched in the tree back at the fence line, is a sure-nuff "big bird." It is a Red-shouldered Hawk, sitting in the sun with its back to me. As I continue to watch, it turns to face me, and I see a very light orange barring on the upper breast -- but a total lack of any color on the belly and legs which are clear, bright white. The head appears to have no contrasting shading. The auriculars are the same shade as the crown and the nape, both of which appear mostly gray. Bright sunlight may influence my sense of the gray appearance, but not, I feel, the total lack of any orange barring on the belly and lower breast. Also there is no noticeable orange on the "shoulder" that I can make out. The eye is dark, the cere yellowish, the base of the bill light and the rest dark. Substantial white spotting is all over the back, and there are gray and white bars on the tail as seen from the underside. It all boils down to a very light colored bird compared to those that I am used to seeing. It reminds me rather of those I've seen in Sanibel, Florida, but not as pale. Might this be a different subspecies from that which I usually encounter here in Maryland or do they become seriously washed out in the early winter? What is their molt sequence? What subspecies could this potentially be? The expected breeding and resident subspecies in this area is the nominate lineatus , I believe. There is a Southeastern alleni, "smaller with a grayish cast to the head and back; usually lacks breast streaking," says the NGS. This bird certainly had pale orange breast streaking, reaching at least half way down the front to the area of the lower breast. Is this maybe simply a matter of bleached out and worn feathers prior to molt? Any help for me from among you hawk specialists out there would be much appreciated. Lou Lou Nielsen Reisterstown, MD clodvigii@aol.com ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================