[obol] Ambiguous Buteos Washington Co

[Lars and Gail Norgren]

      There's a wetland at the nw corner of
the North Plains/Sunset Hwy interchange full
of snags, often with a buteo perched on one.
It looks like a classic spot for RED-SHOULDERED
hawks. I have often taken the trouble to lose
my freeway momentum and always been rewarded by
a RED-TAILED hawk. This has gone on for almost
two decades. Sept 21 I was entering the freeway
from Glencoe Rd and saw a buteo in a snag right
up close to the ramp. I stopped, and looked at
it a eye level at close range. It had a light
slate-colored chest, neck, head, and upper back.
In effect a very extensive hood without any
ornaments or accents. Just smooth, pale slate.
The rest of the back and folded wings were dark
brown with random flecks of white. The belly
and under-tail coverts were boldly barred bright
rust. It flew and revealed a classic "red" tail
complete with black sub-terminal band.
      Saturday evening I heard a warbler chipping
behind the barn. Probably a BTG at this time and
place, but I make fewer of those assumptions lately.
Without binocular in hand I walked back into the
bushes, where I never saw the warbler, although I
heard my first RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET of the fall.
We live a a wooded bluff that drops maybe 70m to
the canyon bottom north of us. A twin to this bluff
is 150m west, at the edge of the property line
(and 1993 timber harvest boundary). When the wind
is northerly these two bluffs create updrafts.
With the trees so short, soaring birds are often
quite low. A buteo-like bird was circling over  the
western bluff. Without benefit of binocular I couldn't
tell much, but it glided towards me, at eye level.
It had a featureless brown back, and as the light
improved(the bird ne of me and the sun to the sw)
it seemed to have a rusty ventral surface. The tail
looked very short, and there was indisputably a
white terminal band. Did I see a BROAD-WINGED HAWK?
I'll never know. The binocular was at my finger tips
when I started around the barn. "Don't leave home
without them" is an inadequate maxim.
     I have seen more RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS within
15km of my house in the past 30 days than the previous
13 years. In fact I never saw one around here until
30 days ago. Adult shoulders have a white terminal band
and the oblique angle I last saw the bird from would
fore-shorten the tail. They obviously are reddish underneath,
and although they tend to have a variegated backside, those
views were distant and somewhat into the sun.
Lars Norgren MANNING OREGON