Juvenile dark morph Harlan's HawkJuvenile 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 (Buteo jamaicensis harlani) are a subspecies of Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) that breed in Alaska and northern Canada and spend their winters in the northern Great Plains. Harlan’s Hawks are a very dark form of Red-tailed Hawks with dark plumage interspersed with marbled white and they have a dark tail instead of a red one.

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 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.