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got some shots of this raptor up in Stanwood this afternoon, not sure what it is... i know there have been rough-legged hawks up there, but this doesn't look quite like one of those... whatever it is, it let me get within about 40 feet, which is unusual for most raptors...
could be, but the face doesn't look the same the one i saw was lighter... also, yours had a single dark band at the tip of the tail, this one had multiple bands...
My friend the raptor expert believes it is a young Swainson's hawk. He has only seen three on the west side in 50 years.
Coupled with my sightings of a broad-winged hawk and prairie falcon in Edmonds this summer, it has been a very strange year for raptors west of the Cascades. I floated the idea on Tweeters that the big fires on the east slopes of the Cascades had driven some of these birds west. Some people pooh-poohed my idea, but maybe it was no so far-fetched afterall.
maybe not! i would imagine those fires destroyed a lot of habitat for the animals these birds prey on, so they may be moving to this side looking for food...
yeah... the one i saw looked darker on the back and top of the wings, but it was also really crappy light, and i had to really punch up the brightness and contrast in PP, so it might have been lighter than it looked. if Swainson's are as rare this side of the mountains as Bill's friend says, this was quite a find! here's another look, from one of my first shots from farther away... you can see its back a bit better...
a member on another forum thought it might be an immature Swainson's...