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Rough-legged Buzzard
last update: Apr 21, 2009 11:24 AM
Also known as the Rough-legged Hawk
Latin name: Buteo lagopus
Population: 100,000-1,000,000 individuals
Cites classified: Least Concern
Where found: Circumpolar from Scandinavia across Russia to Kamchatka to the northern coast (absent from the Arctic islands) and from Alaska across the north Canadian mainland and on southern Canadian Arctic islands
Age/ life expectancy: 2 years
Wingspan: 120-150 cm
Length: 50-60 cm
Weight: 700-1000 g
Mating/Breeding: Nests are built on cliffs, slopes, atop large rocks, or on the ground, or, when there are trees nearby, in a tree. The bulky nest is made of sticks, bones, and other debris, lined with twigs, grass, and other fine material. The female incubates the 3 to 5 eggs for 31 days while the male brings her food. The female broods the young, and the male continues to provide them all with food. After a few weeks, the female joins in the hunting. The young first begin to fly at 5 to 6 weeks of age, but remain with the adults for another 3 to 5 weeks.
Eggs: 2-5 red-brown blotched white eggs
Hibernation: European birds migrate to central and eastern Europe, Russian birds migrate south to the Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Transbaikalia, and North American birds migrate south to the US but not the extreme south
Hunting Habits: quartering flight or hovering with an occasional dive from a perch
Feed on: small mammals, chiefly rodents, but will also feed on small birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and carrion
Predators: humans, arctic foxes, grizzly bears, wolverines, and great-horned owls
Colour/Body: Rough-legged Hawks are variable in plumage, with light and dark color phases and variations in between. Dark phases account for only ten percent of western Rough-legged Hawks. Adults are generally mottled light-and-dark underneath, with dark patches at the wrists. Seen from below, the tails of both phases appear light with a dark terminal band. Seen from above, both phases appear mostly dark, but the light phase shows a light tail with a dark terminal band, and the tail of the dark phase appears dark all over. The adult male can have several dark bands at the tip of its tail as compared to the female, which only has one band. The light phase has a distinctive light-colored head, in contrast to its dark upperside. The Rough-legged Hawk's bill and feet are relatively small.
Interesting Trivia:
- The nest of the Rough-legged Hawk sometimes contains the bones of caribou along with sticks.
