Gone but what a shot!

deb22

Hi everyone, can someone tell me what kind of hawk this is? I was watching him for a few weeks before I was able to approach and get this shot and the following day he was eaten by a pair of sub-arctic great horned owls. I was sad but I got some great shots of them in the middle of the afternoon because they did not want to leave their lunch. Thanks for any help on this i.d I am thinking rough legged but it may be a young red-tail.

DsrtVW

might be a Northern Harrier, I am used to the color variations farther south. I looked in my book it could be Red tail variation

Lindiwe

Can't help with the ID at all, but still wanted to say those are beautiful captures. Sad ending for the little hawk, though.

deb22

DsrtVW wrote: »

might be a Northern Harrier, I am used to the color variations farther south. I looked in my book it could be Red tail variation

Thanks for the quick reply Chris, Harrier's are my favorite and I know them at almost all ages except very young and this is this years bird for sure. It however did not have the white patch on the base of the tail and all harriers have that so red-tail is still a possibility but the hair on the legs were full all the way down and I have not seen that on a red but they have so many phases and age differences that I am not too sure.

deb22

Lindiwe wrote: »

Can't help with the ID at all, but still wanted to say those are beautiful captures. Sad ending for the little hawk, though.

Thanks Lindiwe, I was sad that they got him but I know those great horned are pretty fierce when it comes to prey but seeing the hawk was disturbing because It took me so long to get that close and on the day before he literally came up the branch towards me and did not fly off like he usually did.