I took these shots of what i thought was a light morph Redtail in southern Saskatchewan in between rains. It rained for 10 days out of the 14 i spent in the western grasslands of the prairies. The light was changing so often that i simply exposed for the bird and let the sky go to almost white. The Prairie weather this past summer has been very changeable and many farmers and ranchers were just getting their crops in while in southern Ontario some had already finished a first cut haying. There was so much rain in the west that low lying areas ponded out and became havens for ducks and water birds.
I was in the process of photographing the waterbirds when this unusual redtail hawk appeared soaring and hunting out over the prairie landscape about 300 yards out. I consider myself to be extremely lucky to have captured such a wonderful rarity. Here in Southern Saskatchewan i was treated to one of nature's surprises that make my interest in raptors exciting.
The description of this redtail hawk as Leucistic is derived from a Greek word "Leucos" which means colorless or white in color.