Hawk ID help

[Peeb]

Took this shot in Northeast Oklahoma yesterday. Some kinda hawk. Help with ID would be great. Thanks!

EDIT- check out the hook on the beak- juvie bald eagle, maybe?

Hawk in Kay County, Oklahoma by Peeb-OK, on Flickr

 

[dxqcanada]

Hmm, Jr. must be out shooting right now ... please stand by.

 

[Peeb]

The shape of the beak is beginning to suggest juvenile bald eagle to me

 

[Peeb]

Another image, processed differently and cropped mercilessly:

 

[BrentC]

Looks like a juvi bald eagle to me.

 

[Overread]

I'm no expert with birds, esp not American ones, however this one is certainly a puzzler to me.

It's almost certainly a juvenile something and that makes it tricky as quite a few can look similar at that transitional stage in life.

The only thing that makes me wonder if its not an eagle (either bald or ) is that the beak just seems, in the photos, to be a touch too small/dainty compared to a more broad/bigger eagle beak.

A bald eagle has an all yellow beak, whilst juvenile should be all dark, so if this is one then its right in the transitional stages it would seem changing from black to yellow (note I've no idea how this transition occurs, however the bird above has a very clear line between the two colours rather than a gradual shift in tone)

Beak wise I'd say it looks closer to a golden eagle, but the legs don't look right as this bird has quite clear bare lower halves to its leg/shin rather than covered all the way to the talons. This lack of feathering there also messes it up being a rough legged buzzard, although most of the other colours and markings and beak look quite good for that match up.


The best match up I can work out is a red-tailed hawk of the harlani variation, which does winter in southern USA. This guess would actually go against my gut feeling of it being a juvenile and it could be an adult. However the book does state that it can be confused with a few other species so whilst this appears to fit the picture best it might not be what it is.


Based on its apparent size I'd be happier classing this as a hawk over an eagle, but such characteristics from a non-expert and from a photo and picture ID are not reliable. Suffice to say I'd say its between bald eagler and the red-tailed hawk variation

 

[BrentC]

After reading @Overread post I think he is right in thinking this is a hawk. Also I just happened to get a shot of a Juvenile bald eagle yesterday to compare it to and pretty sure they are not the same. So if it is a hawk I would probably go with Red-tail, because it almost always a red-tail.
I'm sure @ZombiesniperJr will chime in.

Juvenile Bald eagle by Brent Cameron, on Flickr

 

[Overread]

Thanks for the photo Brent - the beak on your photo certainly looks how I remember the last eagle I saw and really does fully push me into the red-tail hawk conclusion. The beak on Peeb's photo is just way too small and dainty.

 

[ZombiesniperJr]

Another image, processed differently and cropped mercilessly:
View attachment 154040

Red-Tailed hawk. possibly harlan's subspecies but im not willing to make a call on subspecies.

 

[Tuckerjr]

This appears to be a Harlan’ Red-tail. The angle is making the ID challenging. I considered Rough-legged, but after further looks & discussion with a professional bird guide from that area we both think dark-morph (Harlan’s) Red-Tail


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ZombiesniperJr]

This appears to be a Harlan’ Red-tail. The angle is making the ID challenging. I considered Rough-legged, but after further looks & discussion with a professional bird guide from that area we both think dark-morph (Harlan’s) Red-Tail


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

im pretty sure its a Harlan's. its for sure a red tailed hawk i know that for a fact. un feathered leg rule's out rough legged hawk.

 

[Overread]

Thanks for confirming with others!

Rather glad that I managed to get pretty close to spot on with the ID considering that its a bird and region I've no direct experience with. Although it also speaks well of the ID book I used - Raptors of the World by James Ferguson-LEss and David A Christie (Helm Identification Guides) if anyone is interested. Not cheap and certainly not a book for in the field ID; but a very good comprehensive reference.