Week 49 – Rough-legged Hawk

 

Rough-legged Hawk. Photograph by Neil Paprocki.

Finally!!

It’s no secret that Rough-legged Hawks are my favorite bird, but they have continued to be my “nemesis photograph bird” ever since I acquired my Canon 7D in the summer of 2012. No longer.

I had several better photographs of different species I could have chosen for this weeks photo (including some Golden Eagle shots), but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to post a picture of a roughie. If I’m lucky, maybe all of the remaining photographs in this 52-week project will be of Rough-legs. I know I can get better shots than this one.

On a side note: while it is impossible to say for sure, this is likely an adult male given the almost complete absence of a belly-band. Adult males can have several distinct subterminal tail bands, but this bird seems to just have one. Hard to say for sure…

All of the previous 52-week blog photos can be found at the Wild Lens blog or on Flickr.