[Tweeters] Harlan's

[Kevin Lucas]

About a week ago during our Winter Raptor Survey near Toppenish (Yakima
County, south-central Washington) we found and photographed a juvenal
plumage Harlan's Hawk, identification verified by Bill Clark. It's a neat
looking bird, Osprey-like. I get a kick from finding, and love observing,
and thoroughly enjoy the challenge of photographing and correctly
identifying and learning about unusual plumage birds.

Harlan's Hawks hold a special interest. Years back when I rode my bicycle
in Alaska, one would very often fly right in front of me at the airport,
just where I would switch from warm-up to high intensity. It was striking.
Since getting into bird watching, I've seen many reports of "Harlan's Hawk"
with inadequate or inaccurate descriptions or wholly without supporting
descriptions or photographs. My challenges learning about Harlan's Hawks
include identifying and winnowing chaff.

Today I did a quick Google search for the origin of the Harlan name, and
came up with this article. It's unsurprisingly disturbing.

https://matthewhalley.wordpress.com/2020/10/23/harlan-of-harlans-hawk-hustling-skulls-since-1826/

This is the first time I've read Matthew R. Halley's writing. There's more
of it here that I'm looking forward to reading:

https://matthewhalley.wordpress.com/author/matthewhalley/

I applaud Matthew for being an eloquent skeptic and for recognizing that
calling out bad behavior is a necessary part of scientific endeavors.

Please promote ethical birding everywhere you can.

Good Birding,
https://www.aba.org/aba-code-of-birding-ethics/
Kevin Lucas
Yakima County, Washington

*Qui tacet consentire videtur*
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