{"id":103796,"date":"2021-11-06T04:57:55","date_gmt":"2021-11-06T10:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=103796"},"modified":"2021-11-06T06:00:34","modified_gmt":"2021-11-06T12:00:34","slug":"my-first-rough-legged-hawks-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2021\/11\/06\/my-first-rough-legged-hawks-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Rough-legged Hawk(s) Of The Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three of them within minutes of each other. I wasn’t close to any of them but I was close enough with my big lens to be sure of their ID.<\/p>\n

Yesterday morning on my way to my intended shooting location I passed the utility poles that I’ve been reliably seeing a pair of Swainson’s Hawks perched on for much of the late summer and early fall. This late in the season I knew the Swainson’s Hawks would be gone, and they were, but when Swainson’s leave for their long migration to South America it always makes me anticipate the arrival of the Rough-legged Hawks that will take their place for the winter.<\/p>\n

So as I drove the last few miles to my destination I had Roughies on my mind, hoping against hope that I might see my first one of the year.<\/p>\n

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And I did.<\/p>\n

At first there was only one Roughie on the ground and it obviously had prey. But soon a second Roughie landed next to it and for a few moments they appeared to be squabbling over the prey item. When this photo was taken they had moved a little further apart and a raven had appeared from out of nowhere in an apparent attempt to snatch any leftovers.<\/p>\n

I was disappointed that they were so far away, by my estimate about 250 yards, but it sure was good to see them!<\/p>\n

I didn’t know it at the time of course but I was about to see yet another Roughie..<\/p>\n

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Twenty minutes later and several miles from the first sighting I encountered this third Roughie perched in a tree and fairly close. But it soon took off from that tree and landed in another tree further away, the tree we see in the upper left of this photo. The hawk took off again before I could get my lens on it so I snapped a few documentary photos as it flew away from me.<\/p>\n

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I was curious about when I’d photographed my First Of Year (FOY) Roughie in previous years so when I got home I researched my blog for some dates. Here’s what I found:<\/p>\n