dark Red-tailed Hawk at Yakima Airport on January 9, 2013 © Kevin S Lucas

dark Red-tailed Hawk at Yakima Airport on January 9, 2013 © Kevin S Lucas

This K(poorly exposed photo of a) dark Red-tailed Hawk was first reported by April Adamson in December, 2012, near the Yakima Airport. It is one of several Red-tailed Hawks that I've seen perched in a tree over Wide Hollow Creek, on the east lawn of Perry Tech, on Washington Avenue.

This photo shows the banding in the outer primary flight feathers, and the white lores characteristic of Harlan's. Denny Granstrand has nice photos of this bird perched that show the ventral surface (underside) of its tail. That ventral pattern appears like the dorsal (upperside) pattern of some Harlan's tails. On this hawk, as with most Red-tails, the dorsal pattern does not look like the ventral pattern, so it doesn't indicate a Harlan's.