IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS:
A large hawk, usually weighing between two and four pounds, this species shows a great deal of individual
variation in plumage. The adult has a rufous-colored tail that may or may not have a black terminal bar. The exception to
this is the Harlan's sub-species, which has a white tail mottled with black. Adults are dark brown on the back and the top
of their wings. The underside of the bird is usually light with a dark bellyband, and a cinnamon wash on the neck and chest.
However, there are both light-colored and dark-colored races that confound this. The Krider's hawk is a light-colored prairie
dwelling sub-species that can be mostly white, with no markings on the white chest and belly, and a very light-colored head.
Melanistic (dark) birds have very little light coloring and appear totally dark brown. In all of the color phases, the undersides
of the primaries are light-colored. Immatures resemble the adults, except that their tails are brown with dark bars; the red
tail molts in during its second year.
