[Birdnet] Red-Shouldered Hawk in Ogden

[Kristin Purdy]

Jack Rensel found and photographed a juvenile RED-SHOULDERED HAWK at the 
Ogden Nature Center in Ogden, Weber County, last week and yesterday. Several 
of us saw Jack's digiscoped images last night and we flocked to the Center 
today. John Bellmon, Dennis Downey, Doug Roberts and I found the hawk in a 
row of trees 200-250 yards north of the Avocet Pond Observation tower. We 
scoped the bird across the open field and eventually were able to cut that 
distance in half by walking north and staying along the edge of the trees. 
It was a good study opportunity, good enough to say this bird is a juvenile 
of the elegans (California) subspecies.

The bird's head is relatively brown, especially toward the front of the 
face, with little evidence of a supercilium. The throat is brown; a thin, 
pale malar appears to separate the throat from the side of the face, and the 
side of the face is very dark until just under the eye. The crown, 
auriculars and nape appeared brown streaked with white. The bird's cere is 
prominently yellow, the irises brown, and the long tarsi and toes are 
yellow.

The upper breast is heavily streaked brown, the lower breast tends more 
toward fat barring and the bars are rufous-brown. The undertail coverts 
appeared to be barred.

The bird shows little rufous; we only saw a few rufous feathers in the 
mantle and pale indistinct marks down the scapulars where the red shoulders 
should eventually develop. We did not see the underwing coverts. The back 
has a brown smudgy appearance tending toward checked, and the wing coverts, 
secondaries, and tail are barred black-and-white. The black wingtips end 
significantly short of the tail.

The bird flew eventually, although not because of us, and headed south along 
the east side of the center and we misplaced it. The flight gave us a chance 
to see the black-and-white barred tail clearly and prominent whitish 
cresents on the upper side of the wing at the base of the primaries. In 
addition, the flight pattern was reminiscent of accipiters with a 
flap-flap-flap-glide rhythm.

Jack photographed the bird yesterday in the open area north of Blackbird 
Pond and last week, north of the Avocet Pond observation tower.

Be aware that other large brown buteos use Ogden Nature Center. Red-tails 
and Rough-legs are there frequently, and Jack also sighted the first-ever 
Ferruginous Hawk there yesterday. However, of some help, or at least a clue, 
was that the Red-shouldered perched at mid-height within a tree rather than 
on a very prominent perch.

It's possible that the Red-shouldered Hawk has been at the ONC for a long 
time. An unsigned entry in the visitor's log in the gift shop reports a 
Red-Shouldered Hawk on October 30.

The Ogden Nature Center is located about a half-mile east of I-15 at exit 
344, 12th Street, on the north side of the road. After passing through the 
gate, drive to the outer parking lot and park, walk to the Visitor's Center 
where you can pay your $3.00 entrance fee and pick up a map, and then head 
out on the trails.

Kris