On Sunday, 2 December 2001, Earl Horn and I visited an area north of Cobb, Sumter Co., GA, popularly referred to as the "Cobb Owl Fields" by Georgia birders.  This area, known as the most reliable area in the state to view Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus) from fall through early spring, is also the winter home of a large number of raptors, most notably Northern Harriers (Circus cyaneus).  On this day, the fields did not disappoint, as we observed five Short-eared Owls coming to roost before dawn and counted 26 Northern Harriers leaving the area during the same window.

But the most interesting raptor that we observed was found about a half-mile southeast of the owl fields along Cobb-Cheek Rd.  Shortly before 8:00 AM, Earl and I spotted a very pale Buteo perched in a tree close to the road.  The bird allowed us a brief study and we determined that it was some kind of Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), the most obvious choice at the time being a pale form known as "Krider's" Red-tailed Hawk.

The hawk soon retreated to a few trees several hundred feet from the road.  As it flew, the striking dark and light pattern of the upperside was made evident, but due to the variability of Red-tailed Hawks, it was not sufficient to determine for certain that this was actually a "Krider's" or an aberrant "normal" Eastern Red-tail.  After a brief rest in the second set of trees, bombarding Northern Harriers and two sets of human eyes staring intently at it became too much, and the bird once again retreated deeper into the fields, lighting on a small tree.  Here it patiently sat for about 45 minutes while Earl and I studied it through our scopes.  An occasional passing Northern Harrier would bother the Red-tail, but for the most part the bird contently sat in this small tree while we took notes and photographed it.

The extreme distance of the bird from us forced me into photographing it with my camera held up to the ocular of my scope.  This resulted in dark, blurry photos, but adequate enough to allow us to confidently identify this bird as a "Krider's" Red-tailed Hawk.

After departing the area shortly after 9:00 AM, Earl and I continued to bird eastern Sumter Co. and western Crisp Co. until approximately 3:00 PM, when we decided to check for the hawk once more before heading home.  Sure enough, the hawk was perched in a tree in the same area, once again fairly close to the road.  After studying it for another five minutes, it departed across the road and perched in a line of pine trees at the edge of a cotton field.  I took several more pictures of the hawk through my scope, but it finally left its perch and began soaring over the field, allowing me to change to a regular telephoto lens.  At one point, it flew directly overhead, returning to the fields where we first located it.  We felt at that point that we had adequately documented the occurrence of this rare form of Red-tailed Hawk for the State.

There are previous records of "Krider's" Red-tailed Hawk in Georgia, and this form is mentioned in Thomas D. Burleigh's Georgia Birds as a casual winter visitor, "possibly commoner than the few records indicate."  He specifically mentions three specimens from the late 1800's - early 1900's:  Sapelo I. (16 Feb 1888) St. Mary's (3 Feb 1904), and on the Savannah River, Screven Co. (2 Jan 1909).

Prior to the early 1990's, this form of Red-tailed Hawk, which nests primarily in the northern Great Plains, was considered a full subspecies (Buteo jamaicensis kriderii).  Taxonomy of this species has become somewhat murky since then as additional studies by ornithologists shed light on the relationship between all of the Red-tail subspecies.  It is now widely considered to be a very pale form of the Eastern Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis borealis).

General Description (while perched)

• Large, sturdily-built and strikingly pale buteo.
  
• Head mostly whitish, with sparse dark streaks on upper portion of forehead and lower crown, sparse dark streaking on nape, thin dark post-ocular stripe, a dark smudge on the lower part of the ear coverts, and a dark submoustachial stripe (unnoticeable towards the beak, gradually widening towards the neck).
  
• Eyes somewhat pale (dirty yellow).  Color of the eyes were difficult to determine.
  
• Beak blackish towards the tip somewhat lighter (grayish) towards the base.
  
• Underparts (throat, breast, belly sides, flanks, vent, undertail coverts) almost entirely white, but small sparsely scattered dark spots on belly.
  
• Upperparts a rather calico patterned.  Back, shoulders and upper scapulars mostly very dark brown (appearing blackish in some light) with a few scattered white markings; wing coverts and lower scapulars mostly whitish with scattered dark markings; primaries and secondaries mostly dark on folded wing.
  
• Folded wing fell noticeably short of the tip of the tail.
  
• Upper portion of rump dark, lower portion (tail coverts) whitish.
  
• Upperside of tail whitish towards the base, with thin barring, gradually become somewhat more noticeable  towards the end of the tail; lower portion of tail washed with a pinkish color.
  
• Underside of tail mostly whitish and unmarked towards the base; grayish thin barring towards the tip of the tail

General Description (while soaring/flying)

• While soaring, wings were noticeably wide; secondaries gradually bulged towards the middle; when in direct flight wing beats were heavy, somewhat slow and stroke was even.
  
• In flight, whitish head was in stark contrast to the very dark back.
  
• Calico pattern of the upperparts was enhanced while bird was in flight due to the presence of whitish inner primaries; whitish inner primaries formed a light trapezoidal shape, as they were bordered by the dark primaries, secondaries and primary coverts.
  
• Rump and uppertail as described above, but wash on lower half of tail appeared to have an orangish cast to it when it banked in certain directions.
  
• Underparts as described above. Underwing mostly whitish, with dark outer primary tips, slight dark carpal crescent, light brown patagial mark (much reduced from other Eastern Red-tails).  When back-lit, inner primaries and secondaries appeared barred.

Resources referenced:

Burleigh, Thomas D., 1958, Georgia Birds.
Haney, Christopher J., et. al., 1986, Annotated Checklist of Georgia Birds.
National Geographic Society, 1999, Field Guide to the Birds of North America.  Third edition.
Preston, C. R. and R. D. Beane. 1993. Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis). In The Birds of North America, No. 52 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.)
Sibley, David A., 2000, National Audubon Society The Sibley Guide to Birds.

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