![\"rough](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-5996-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"rough")
<\/p>\nRough-legged Hawks are a true arctic species, spending about 7 months of the year on their breeding grounds in the\u00a0arctic or sub-arctic tundra or taiga of Alaska or Canada.\u00a0 Then they migrate south and winter in\u00a0most of the lower 48 states, with the exception of the SE region and parts of California and Arizona.<\/p>\n
I love it when they’re here as I find them to be exceedingly handsome birds and I really enjoy photographing them.\u00a0 And yes, I’m already looking forward to their return.\u00a0 Every time I’m in their favorite haunts I can’t help looking for them on\u00a0some of their\u00a0preferred perches, even this time of year.\u00a0 So, feeling a little nostalgic for them on a Saturday night, I thought I’d do a post on the species.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Normally I’m not terribly fond of the Tintic Quartzite rocks on Antelope Island as perches because they’re so bright that they tend to blow out the whites\u00a0but as you can see by the shadows the sun was still very low when this shot was taken so I got pretty good detail on most of the perch.\u00a0 And besides, I like the rounded, weathered look of this\u00a0particular boulder.\u00a0 I do wish the out of focus sunflower heads in the foreground weren’t there but for me they’re not an image killer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc,\u00a0natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0This is one of the few shots I have of the species in full flight, vs just after takeoff, (as you can tell from the position of the\u00a0feet)\u00a0with a background other than sky.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a01\/1000, f\/8, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n This hawk was one of the most cooperative raptors I ever photographed.\u00a0 It posed for me for what seemed like forever – in fact I had to leave the bird, still in place and posing, in order to be on time for a lunch date.\u00a0 That’s not something I would normally ever<\/em> do, but the lunch appointment\u00a0was with a very good friend.<\/p>\n In checking all of my\u00a0images of this species (not easy to do, they’re spread out over 3 computers and 7 years), the\u00a0earliest in the winter I’ve seen roughies arrive has been November 3 and they’re all\u00a0normally gone from northern Utah by March 1 – with one\u00a0notable exception.\u00a0 Last spring we had several birds stay late and I actually photographed one on May 8.\u00a0 Almost unheard of.<\/p>\n Yes, I certainly do look forward to seeing and photographing\u00a0roughies once again – only a few weeks to go…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Rough-legged Hawks are a true arctic species, spending about 7 months of the year on their breeding grounds in the\u00a0arctic or sub-arctic tundra or taiga of Alaska or Canada.\u00a0 Then they migrate south and winter in\u00a0most of the lower 48 states, with the exception of the SE region and parts of California and Arizona. I love it when they’re here as I find them to be exceedingly handsome birds and I really enjoy photographing them.\u00a0 And yes, I’m already looking forward to their return.\u00a0 Every time I’m in their favorite haunts I can’t help looking for them on\u00a0some of their\u00a0preferred perches, even this time of year.\u00a0 So, feeling a little nostalgic for them on a Saturday night, I thought I’d do a post on the species. \u00a01\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Normally I’m not terribly fond of the Tintic Quartzite rocks on Antelope Island as perches because they’re so bright that they tend to blow out the whites\u00a0but as you can see by the shadows the sun was still very low when this shot was taken so I got pretty good detail on most of the perch.\u00a0 And besides, I like the rounded, weathered look of this\u00a0particular boulder.\u00a0 I do wish the out of focus sunflower heads in the foreground weren’t there but for me they’re not an image killer. 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc,\u00a0natural light, not baited, set up or called in \u00a0This is one of…<\/p>\n![\"rough](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/rough-legged-hawk-9134-ron-dudley1.jpg\" "\\"rough")
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