At the same time, a small contingent of Roughlegs invaded Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary on the South Shore [MA] and Redtails teed up along Rt. 91.

And in Northern NY the number of Roughlegs remained around fiftty birds, but a December ratio of 2:1 [light over dark] was upgraded to 1:1!

Probably from a northern land with small trees this bird landed in the fine branches of a Red Maple and the branches started oscillating up and down... just like home. It's interesting to make comparisons to a bird from last Winter.

Buteo jamaicensis abieticola is so over. First proposed as our very own eastern variety in 1950 [and again in 1986], Brian Wheeler comments that he doesn't see the evidence. For me, I have seen individuals -- like the bird to the left -- but they are few and far between in migration. The museum collections used in the published works seem to have a disproportionate number of specimens to their occurence in the Wild. I have never seen a wave in migration or enough birds in any wintering area over the last decade of looking hard/carefully to offer indirect evidence that a population in any kind of geographically specific area exists.

But... Is there a small hooded bird with a fine belly band worthy of classification? Is there a unifying subspecies extending across the northermost entirety of the Redtail's range? How about a population of large, brown birds? If and when the costs come down, GPS and DNA work will tell the tale/tail. So, even if nothing comes of this in our little lifetimes and we get an incomplete in God's latest class -- Art Appreciation For Beginners -- She's still teaching us somethin'...