Leucistic dark morph Harlan's Hawk, very eye-catching

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I spotted this dark morph Harlan's Hawk perched on a pole just outside of the small town of Manzanola, CO two days ago. I inadvertently flushed it and it's bright white leucistic feathers made this bird really stand out. I see several Harlan's Red-tailed Hawks most years but I have never seen a leucistic one.

Dark morph harlani characteristics include blackish body and underwing coverts, substantial white on it's breast, white streaks on head, white underside of tail with blackish terminal band contrasts with the blackish uppertail that has some white basal feathers.   The bright white leucistic wing feathers are most eye-catching.
"Leucism is defined as a partial or total lack of eumelanin and phaeomelanin in the feathers as a
result of inherited disorder of the deposition of these pigments in the feathers....Different forms of leucism are known and can vary from only a few white feathers (<25 br="" individuals="" to="" totally="" white="">

The other obvious characteristic of this bird is the large protrusion in it's chest showing it's crop expanded from just eating (best seen in second pic above).  SeEtta

Comments

Nmbirder 1964 said…
Great picture thanks for sharing.
February 16, 2018 at 7:42 AM
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