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Dark Morph Rough-Legged Hawk...adult dark morph....underparts, including breast, and under-wing coverts are dark brown and in some cases are black or a very dark grey. Note whitish comma at wrist.
These hawks are generally a western Arctic buteo however i have been encountering an increasing number of these birds in Southwestern Ontario on the Bruce. Yet it was a great pleasure to photograph it here.
Dark Adults vary from rufous-morph to drk-morph in a continuous cline.
Dark-Morph Adult: similar to rufous-morph adult but head, body, and wing and tail coverts are blackish brown without any rufous coloration. Intergrades between the morphs show a clinal variation.