{"id":35654,"date":"2013-03-13T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thebirdersreport.com\/?p=5044"},"modified":"2019-12-22T22:41:46","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T09:41:46","slug":"rough-legged-hawks-wintering-at-klamath-basin-nwr-complex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/rough-legged-hawks-wintering-at-klamath-basin-nwr-complex\/","title":{"rendered":"Rough-legged Hawks Wintering at Klamath Basin NWR Complex"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Rough-legged Hawk Perched<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) photos by Larry Jordan – the Rough-legged Hawk is a true arctic species having an extensive panboreal breeding range, with populations in taiga and tundra regions of both the Old World and the New World1<\/sup>. Green is their summer range, blue is winter.<\/p>\n

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Rough-legged Hawk Range Map<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n

In North America this raptor breeds in arctic and sub-arctic Canada and Alaska. They nest on cliffs and feed primarily on lemmings and voles. Fortunately for us, the entireRough-legged Hawk populationmigratesto open country in southern Canada and the United States for the winter.<\/p>\n

Rough-legged Hawks exhibit a high degree of plumage variation in both light and dark morphs. This bird looks to be a dark morph juvenile to me. It has a light head and an all dark belly with lighter brown streaks on the breast. If you stop the following video at 21 seconds, you will see that it also has rufous underwing coverts with the universal dark carpal patches that show in both morphs.<\/p>\n

I was having a very nice time watching and filming this bird at close range before a pick up drove by at highspeedflushing it from its perch. At the end of the video, around a minute and 17 seconds, you can also see that it’s tail shows dark above with pale gray banding, not the broad white base that is so obvious on the light morph.<\/p>\n