White raptor

[b4quin]

Here are some really terrible pictures, but as I scan the site I see some of you are pretty amazing at identifying from limited information. These pictures were taken in November at my home in Ohio. I'm just a couple miles from Lake Erie on the Maumee River near Toledo. This bird appeared to me to be almost all white and was about 24" tall, pretty big. Any guesses? Thanks, I try to do better photography later? Bill Quinlan

[Colin Key]

I think you are stretching our ID powers with these Bill. They have to be Bald Eagle, no?

Colin

[Nathan Kipling]

I was thinking it would be a gyr falcon which is about the right size, but it's almost certainly got too short a tail, it could be an albino of a species that's not occuring to me because it's not supposed to be white.

:puzzled:

[Colin Key]

I was thinking it would be a gyr falcon which is about the right size, but it's almost certainly got too short a tail, it could be an albino of a species that's not occuring to me because it's not supposed to be white.

:puzzled:

Do Gyrs occur in the US? Also, I have never seen one perched in a tree.

Can you post larger files Bill?

If not, this will go down in history as "anything".

Colin :puzzled:

[AndyB]

Hi Bill, good one! To me it looks like a hawk rather than an eagle, falcon or kite. So this narrows it down to a pale Red-tailed Hawk (eg Krider's which is scarce and no idea of staus in Ohio of this subspecies) or albino Red-tailed (rare too) or Ferruginous Hawk.

Most likely looking bird to me is Ferruginous Hawk and if you told me the photo was from California, I'd have no problem IDing it as such. However, Ferruginous Hawk is pretty rare (or mega rare I don't know) in Ohio so I wouldn't ID it as this based on these photos. It's hard to see any detail and it's possible the light might be blowing out some of the color and detail and making it appear whiter than it was. I'd play it safe and go for an albino type Red-tailed Hawk.

Anyway, here are some photos of Ferruginous Hawk that will show just how white and pale this large hawk can be: Photo by Robert Shantz (http://www.rshantz.com/Animals/Birds/Hawks/Ferruginous/20050227Ferruginous01.htm). Also Bill Schmoker has a series of photos (http://www.schmoker.org/BirdPics/FEHA.html) - scroll all way down to see the light morph juvenile and you'll see just how white these birds can be from the underside.

If you get any more photos of this bird, please post!

[b4quin]

thanks for the responses! Colin, we do have bald eagles here, fly over my house once in a while, great sight. But this isn't one. I thought of gyr falcon by looking at the guide but don't have enough to make a definitive ID. Here is the original picture, can't imagine it helps. BQ

[Colin Key]

Can't seem to open this image Bill.

[Brian S]

This looks like a Buteo, and if I check my Photo Guide to NA Raptors (Wheeler and Clark), this certainly seems to fit Krider's (Red-tailed) Hawk.

Brian S

[b4quin]

Here's my last try at posting pictures on this bird. Thanks to all that have helped. BQ