![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-7493b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"rough-legged-hawk-7493b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nIn my view Rough-legged Hawks are spectacularly handsome raptors whether perched or in flight, even in poor light.<\/p>\n
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1\/1250, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n In yesterday’s post I made the mistake of mentioning the return of migrating Rough-legged Hawks this fall. That hooked me so last night I reviewed some of my older images of them I’ve never posted before. These are two of them.<\/p>\n I never posted this one because it was taken under overcast skies so there isn’t much light on the face or in the eye. But I love the great look we get at the fully extended left wing and the extreme flare of that beautiful tail. At first glance the tail seems to be much larger than it actually is because of the similarly colored primaries of the right wing directly behind it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM,<\/em>\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Here’s another one, perched and in better light – in my view a truly handsome bird. What’s not to love about Rough-legged Hawks?<\/p>\n Roughies are truly an arctic species, breeding in tundra or taiga in arctic or subarctic Alaska and Canada. Most of them winter in the northern U.S. but I’ve been seeing significantly fewer of them in recent years and I suspect that’s related to the climate crisis. Even when times are good their distribution and numbers are limited by available nesting sites because they nest almost exclusively on cliffs, only occasionally nesting in trees or on man-made structures.<\/p>\n I’m afraid the unusually hot weather in the north this past summer doesn’t bode well for the success of their recent nesting season. I hope that’s just the pessimist in me coming out and I’ll see oodles of them this winter, light-eyed juveniles like this one especially.<\/p>\n I’d love to be pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In my view Rough-legged Hawks are spectacularly handsome raptors whether perched or in flight, even in poor light.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-7174-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"rough-legged-hawk-7174-ron-dudley\\"")
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