Swainson's Hawk (dark morph)

Oh...our turkey vultures migrate here from their wintering grounds in Central & South America...they come early April-ish and leave mid-September-ish...

I'm in West Denver Metro area...just before the foothills. Turkey Vultures don't like the cold...they are very bad at keeping their body temps up. Our educational Turkey Vulture must be brought inside when it gets down to around 0-5 degrees...but we haven't had much of that this year...a couple cold spells... Last weekend we got about 10 inches of snow...but 3 days later it was 65+ degrees...typical Denver. I wouldn't be surprised if we got another snow storm...but probably no more super-cold snaps. There are a few piles of snow left, but the grass is getting green and the trees are budding!! I'm more than ready for spring!! ;-)

:)

Oh...would LOVE this in the Raptor mission! ;-)

Whaaaa???? You've got swainies already???? Oh my...has spring sprung or what!!! Haven't seen any swainies here yet (soon - usu. around tax day), but we had our first turkey vulture spotting!! Great capture Jellis!!

I think this is a dark-morph Swainson's hawk based on body structure, head placement in relativity to the wing span, feathered half way down the legs, morph compatibility, barred undertail, and small hooked beak.

http://www.whatbird.com/forum/index.php?/topic/94160-hawk-in-california/

I'm thinking dark morph Swainson's Hawk, or perhaps a dark morph Broad-winged Hawk (very rare morph and rare species in CA). Do you mind if I run this through some of my friends on Whatbird?