Ferruginous Hawk Identifying Features

Photo courtesy Cascades Raptor Center,
Oregon
black bill with bluish base
yellow cere
large, long yellow gape
Photo courtesy Cascades Raptor Center,
Oregon
white remiges on underwing
with gray edge
black tips on primaries
(color and amount of barring
on coverts varies greatly)
Photo courtesy Cascades Raptor Center,
Oregon
feathered legs
(color varies)
Photo courtesy Cascades Raptor Center,
Oregon

Photo courtesy Cascades Raptor Center,
Oregon
light and dark morphs

There is a great deal of
individual variation
in the plumage of light morphs.
Some authors identify two
intermediate morphs.