Skywatch Friday: Zone-tailed Hawk

Zone-tailed Hawk 8-1-09 Sahuarita, AZ

Zone-tailed hawks can fool you and their prey by their similarity to turkey vultures. A hawk of the desert southwest, they nest in trees along rivers and canyons but hunt widely over open areas. With a wingspan of 51" this hawk soars with its wings in an open shallow V, just like turkey vultures and is often seen with them. A closer look will reveal the barred wings, feathered head, and the contrast of the yellow beak and feet against the black body. Notice also the white bands in the long tail.

Compare the silhouettes and coloring of these 2 birds. Both were seen just last weekend in Sahuarita and were hunting in the sky at the same time. The one on the left is a zone-tailed hawk. The one on the right is a turkey vulture.

Zone-tailed hawk 8-1-09

Look at these beautiful dark wings and the dark T shape of the body. The turkey vulture below shows the same T shape with translucent flight feathers, but the Zone-tailed hawks feathers are barred, not solid.

Turkey Vulture in Sycamore Canyon 4-10-07

Notice how much longer and and straighter the turkey vulture's wings are. With a wingspan of 67" its "fingers" are of almost equal length, forming a square tip, while the zone-tailed hawk 's fingers are graduated in length, forming a gentle curve. Also, the zone-tailed hawk has 5 fingers while the turkey vulture has 6. I saw my first zone-tailed hawk on July 2 right here in Sycamore Canyon, the day after I returned form Connecticut. It came flying toward my den window and at first I thought it was a turkey vulture, but then it seem to be flying differently. Then I though it might be a raven, but it seemed much larger. as the bird drew closer with deep scoops of its wings I was able to see the white bands in the tail and the feathered head. As my mouth dropped open in astonishment it flew directly at the window and over the house. It was so close I was able to see it with my bare eyes. Knocking myself out of my stupor, I dashed into the living room to grab my camera. I had to hurry and change the lens to the 70-300 mm zoom, since the camera was still packed up from my trip. By the time I got outside with camera and bins, the bird was much higher in the sky. Though I was able to capture some photos the image had to be cropped and enlarged so much that it was not worth posting, though I could still see the barred wings and the white bands in the tail. It was enough to confirm my ID. That makes bird number 78 for Sycamore Canyon!

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