Folks:
I'm embarking on a study of the various morphs (color phases) of wintering red-tailed hawks in Colorado, with a particular interest in extremely dark and extremely light forms. It's part of a larger study by Bill Clark (author of raptor field guides) which seeks to determine if the Harlan's Hawk is a subspecies of red-tail (as it's considered currently) or an entirely separate species. The AOU has gone back and forth on this issue several times without a great deal of explanation one way or the other. Bill has studied several thousand museum skins around the country, and also living birds on the breeding grounds and during migration, but never on the wintering grounds, which include eastern CO. I'll be trapping birds, banding them, taking measurements and photographing plumage, and releasing them at the point of capture. Since this is a comparative study, I'll sample all morphs. I certainly won't have any trouble finding light-morph red-tails (the most common form), but I could use help locating the dark (Harlan's and rufous) and light (Krider's) morphs. Any reports of these would be greatly appreciated. For the time being my efforts are limited to the area north of I-70 and east of I-25, and I can't promise I will be able to respond to all sightings - but I'll give it a try! If you have any questions or wish to report a bird, please email me at olinal...@earthlink.net (preferred) or call me at 970-493-2886. Many thanks for your assistance. Olin __________________ Olin Allen 6350 Kremers Lane Laporte CO 80535 (970) 493-2886 olinal...@earthlink.net -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobi...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds?hl=en.
