This painting depicts a dark phase Red Tailed Hawk, first observed by Audubon during his Missouri River expedition in 1843. The color phase occurs in Red Tails west of the Mississippi, and represents 10-20% of local populations. Audubon enjoyed watching the hawk’s aerial skills, and gave them the nick name, “Black Warrior”. My Black Warrior is flying across a beautiful landscape, south of Wyoming’s Rams horn peak in the Wind River watershed, where I have observed them many times.
