Rough-legged Hawk

Buteo lagopus

Order FALCONIFORMES - Family ACCIPITRIDAE - Subfamily Accipitrinae

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A hawk of the North, the Rough-legged Hawk breeds in Arctic tundra and taiga regions around the northern hemisphere. Both dark and light forms are common, with many birds intermediate between the extremes.

Cool Facts

• The nest of the Rough-legged Hawk sometimes contains the bones of caribou along with sticks.
• The name "Rough-legged" Hawk refers to the feathered legs. The Rough-legged Hawk, the Ferruginous Hawk, and the Golden Eagle are the only American hawks to have legs feathered all the way to the toes.

Description

• Size: 47-52 cm (19-20 in)
• Wingspan: 132-138 cm (52-54 in)
• Weight: 715-1400 g (25.24-49.42 ounces)

• Large hawk.
• Wings long and broad.
• Flight feathers pale, with dark trailing edge to wings.
• Black marks at wrists.
• Tail broad, with white at base and broad dark tip.
• Commonly with pale, streaked chest and broad dark belly.
• May be all dark, but still with pale wing feathers and white at base of tail.

• Extremely variable in appearance because of light and dark forms and sexual dimorphism.
• Legs feathered down to the toes.
• Hovers frequently.

Sex Differences

Male light morph has some dark barring on otherwise pale wing feathers, narrow dark bands near base of tail, and belly with variable amount of dark mottling. Female has cleaner white wing feathers, only one or two dark bands on tail (large one near tip), a nearly completely dark belly, and a browner back. Dark morphs similar, but female is browner. Some birds have mixed plumage patterns of opposite sex.

Immature

Juvenile similar to adult female, but with browner tail and less distinct dark band on tail and along trailing edge of wings.

Similar Species

• Turkey Vulture similar to dark morph, but lacks white at base of tail and dark trailing edge along wings.
• Northern Harrier slimmer, and with white rump, not base of tail.
• Red-tailed Hawk with darker head, shorter wings, more barring on wings and tail, dark leading edge of wings instead of black wrist patch, and without white base to tail.
• Ferruginous Hawk larger, with wider bill, whitish comma at wrist, and all-pale tail.

Sound

Call a drawn-out, downward "kaaaar."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds across Alaska and northern Canada. Also across northern Eurasia.

Winter Range

Winters from southern Canada southward to southwestern United States, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Virginia. Also in central Eurasia.

Habitat

Open coniferous forest, tundra and generally barren country, breeding on cliffs or in trees, wintering also in grasslands and open cultivated areas.

Food

Small mammals and some birds.

Behavior

Foraging

Hunts from the air or an elevated perch. Frequently hovers.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Large bowl of sticks on cliff ledge. Lined with grasses, sedges, small twigs, and greenery.

Egg Description

Dingy white blotched with brown.

Clutch Size

1-7 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless and covered with thick down.

Conservation Status

No evidence of any change in North American breeding populations.

Other Names

Buse pattue (French)
Ratonero calzado (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Bechard, M. J., and T. R. Swem. 2002. Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus). In The Birds of North America, No. 641 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.