A few raptors were migrating. They were TUVUs and SSHAs. Among the TUVUs was a hawk I immediately i.d.’ed by its silouette and its manner of flight as a RTHA. But when I got my binoc.’s on it, its coloration was reminiscent of an im. BAEA and the placement of the lighter areas like that of a GOEA. It was then I realized it was a Harlan’s. This was the 3rd time I’ve sighted 1 of these. My 1st bird book had it as a different species than the RTHA. I’m not completely convinced it’s conspecific with the RTHA. Arthur Cleaveland Bent believed it wasn’t a subspecies of RTHA. Of course, that was about a century before D.N.A. testing. It seems to be a definite offshoot from the continuum of RTHA races. Perhaps it is on the road to separation. If raptor researchers for their purposes decide to list it separately, its acronym should be HAHA — Ha-ha!
G. Klug
