Rough-legged Hawk
Rough-legged Hawk Information
Length: 19 - 23"
Habitat:
Breeding: Open tundra and open mountainous areas. Prefers habitat with cliffs or rocky areas for nesting.
Winter: Farmland, marshes, dunes, and other open country. Can sometimes be found roosting in open coniferous woodlands.
Diet: Mostly small mammals such as mice, voles, and lemmings; sometimes, small rabbits; birds, some carrion, and occasionally insects.
Calls of the Rough-legged Hawk
Additional Photos and Information
Rough-legged Hawk
Information on habitat, diet, feeding behavior, nesting and migration. Includes range maps and the calls of this bird. (From Audubon Field Guide)
Photos of Rough-legged Hawk
From Peter LaTourrette's Bird Photo Gallery
Rough-legged Hawk
© arttoday.com
Rough-legged Hawk
Identification Tips
- Large buteo
- Long, broad, rounded wings
- Hooked beak
- Broad tail
- Yellow legs and cere
- Sometimes hovers in flight
- Wings held in slight dihedral
- Wide, dark, subterminal tail band
- Upperparts dark brown with some mottling
- Dark wrist contrasting with mottled wing linings and paler flight feathers
- Females have darker bellies than males; males have darker breasts
- Very dark plumage
- Flight feathers barred and paler than wing linings
- Dark trailing edge to flight feathers
- Dark wrist
- Broad, dark, subterminal band on tail
- Female has white base to tail; male has dark tail
(Credit: U. S. Geological Survey)
Rough-legged Hawk
Breeding Range
The rough-legged hawks that we see in New England breed in the arctic tundra of North America and migrate southward after breeding season.
Rough-legged Hawk
Range Maps from Cornell
Rough-legged Hawk breeding, migration, and nonbreeding range
Includes separate map of sightings.
Rough-legged Hawk
Christmas Bird Count Map
Historical CBC Map from USGS