The gift of a Krider's subspecies of Red-Tailed Hawk: a gift

This past Sunday, the last in April, Jim and I were in Medora where we took a morning walk around the village and down to the Little Missouri River.  Standing on the banks of that lovely river, I looked up to see a hawk soaring overhead and, by its almost complete whiteness, I instantly knew it was a rarity: a Krider's subspecies of a Red-Tailed Hawk.

An adult Krider's (much darker than the one we saw)

I've seen these a couple of other times.  The previous sightings were much more like this photo, with a pink tail.  However, this one was most likely a juvenile as it was starkly white with just the tiniest of dark wing tips.   I excitedly described to my husband just what a rarity was this sighting.

You can learn more about these at this one of many different sites.

It passed over us, heading upriver, with barely a beat of it's wings and we were in awe in the gift we'd just been given.