West Coast lady it lacks obvious ventral eyespots on the hindwings; there are two large ones on "V. virginiensis" and four small ones on "V. cardui". Like the latter, it also lacks a white dot in the pinkish-orange subapical field of the ventral and dorsal forewings. Its upperwing coloration has the purest orange of the three; the American painted lady is usually quite reddish. A less reliable indicator is the row of black eyespots on the dorsal submarginal hindwing. These are usually of roughly equal size in "V. cardui" and lack blue centers, though the summer morph may have a few tiny ones.
Black-and-white hawk-eagle particularly towards the bill, is also black. The wings are black, and the bird has a brownish tail barred black-dark grey and with white tip. The iris is orange, the feet pale to bright yellow with black talons. The bill is black with a yellow cere. The sexes are alike in color, but the female is larger. Immature birds have pale edges on the upperwing coverts and some brownish-grey feathers on the back. The black-and-white hawk-eagle is hard to confuse with any other bird in its range. The black-faced hawk ("Leucopternis melanops") is very similar in overall coloration, but it