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Cowichan Valley Camera Club | all galleries >> * CVCC Member Galleries - Do Not Post to these Galleries >> * Racine Erland >> * Racine Erland 2009 Gallery > Mystery Bird - Solved! Male Northern Harrier Hawk
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02-APR-2009 Racine Erland

Mystery Bird - Solved! Male Northern Harrier Hawk

Cedar

We saw this bird hunting in a field in the Cedar area and managed to get several
shots of it. We got out the books, searched on the net and still aren't quite
certain what it is. We thought perhaps a white morph of the Gyrfalcon, however
our area doesn't seem to be in it's normal range. We checked the Northern Goshawk
also, but it doesn't seem quite right either. Please help! If you can identify
this bird add your comments and help to solve the mystery. --- Thanks to those who
helped to solve this puzzle. We were confused because the books show this hawk
in darker tones than what we actually saw in the field. Also this is one of the
few raptors in which the sexes look quite different: the male is white below with
a light gray back and hood, the female is mottled in browns.


other sizes: small medium original auto
comment
Cowichan Valley Camera Club05-Apr-2009 00:15
Great catch!
jean
Cowichan Valley Camera Club03-Apr-2009 21:21
A real beauty of a shot, and so sharp and detailed. Magnificent!
Gail R.
Cowichan Valley Camera Club03-Apr-2009 19:12
Beautiful shot. Well done! - Ed Maxfield
Guest 03-Apr-2009 17:19
A nice picture of a male Northern Harrier, a hard species to get close, well done Racine.
Derrick
Thomas T 03-Apr-2009 05:35
Another winner.... your on a roll.... soon to be honoured in Audubon wall of fame...?
Carla 03-Apr-2009 04:10
He looks like he is off a Harry Potter Movie...great shot!