February Raptor – Rough-legged Hawk

 

Our raptor for February 2014 is the Rough-legged Hawk. This time of year always makes me a bit sad as I know the Roughies are making their way poleward, back to their arctic breeding grounds. While some birds will stay on their wintering grounds into April, we won’t see most of these birds again until October or November of 2014.

This adult male was captured and banded using a mouse-baited bal-chatri trap on February 17. In addition to banding this bird, several morphometric measurements were taken to help scientists better understand the differences between males and females of the species.

Below are a series of three photos detailing the wing and tail plumage of this ATY (After-third Year) adult male Rough-legged Hawk.