Up Close and Personal with a Rough-legged Hawk

 

Adult male Rough-legged Hawk. Photograph by Neil Paprocki.

I wanted to follow up on my Week 50 photograph of a Rough-legged Hawk being released with some more details about the individual we trapped and banded.

The scientific name for the Rough-legged Hawk is Buteo lagopus. Why are they called this? Well, the genus Buteo represents the true hawks including Red-tailed Hawks, Swainson’s Hawks, Ferruginous Hawks and many others. The second part, lagopus, literally means ‘hare-footed’. Rough-legged Hawks have completely feathered tarsi, helping to keep them warm on their frigid arctic breeding grounds.

The feathered tarsus of a Rough-legged Hawk. Photograph by Neil Paprocki.

Rough-legged Hawks are one of the few Buteos that can be identified to sex based on plumage (usually). We knew this individual was an adult male due to the lack of a distinct belly-band (a more mottled breast and belly) and the presence of multiple tail bands.

Adult male Rough-legged Hawk. Photograph by Matthew Podolsky.

The most interesting plumage characteristic I noticed was the coloration and banding on the dorsal, or top-side, of the tail feathers. Note the hints of rufous in the middle of the tail, this is something I had never noticed until having a bird in the hand.

Rough-legged Hawk tail. Photograph by Neil Paprocki.

Now having seen one adult male Rough-legged Hawk in the hand, I am very curious to compare this individual to other adult males, and to adult females and juveniles. This will help us gain a more complete understanding of plumage and morphometric differences between sexes and age classes

Rough-legged Hawk portrait. Photograph by Matthew Podolsky.