Rough-legged Hawk
This Rough-legged Hawk put on a brief but thrilling show for me today, facing into the wind to help it hover while scanning the land below for any small mammal prey. The wind was particularly strong thanks to the major storm currently impacting the Northeast region. Whichever one of the hawk’s eyes that was being battered by the wind the most was often covered by its nictitating membrane. This third eyelid is almost like wearing a pair of sunglasses for the raptor in that it can still see while the eye is more protected than it would be otherwise. It was also keeping the eye moist with...
Read MoreRough-legged Hawks Irrupting
This is a companion blog entry to the Winter Bird Forecast by Audubon Connecticut and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. Be sure to watch for our fifth forecast, coming soon! Wherever you are across the Northeast you have likely seen or read a report about a Rough-legged Hawk nearby this winter. This beautiful raptor, available in both a light and dark color morph, has irrupted across a broad swath of the upper parts of the Lower 48. The wintering specialty is at home in open and coastal areas such as marshes, grasslands, airports – hey, a lot of the same places the...
Read MoreRough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) by Twan Leenders
This Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) was recently seen in a snow squall at Dunkirk Airport here in Chautauqua County, New York. RTPI staff and volunteers are continuing to search for wintering Northern Harriers (Circus cyaneus) and Short-eared Owls (Asio flammeus) across the region in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and recording other birds like this along the way as well. Please let us know if you have seen either of the two focal species this season! Email your sightings to RTPI’s Conservation & Outreach Coordinator Scott Kruitbosch...
Read MoreRough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) by Scott Kruitbosch
This light morph Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus) was another fantastic raptor from the Jamestown Christmas Bird Count. I spotted it sitting on this pole before it flew off to a tree and then west. I do not believe any others were seen in our circle yesterday in the constant lake effect snow.
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