RE: [cobirds] Re: Rough-Legged Hawk in Longmont (Boulder County)

Hi All,

I hate to be a pester, but I've noticed several local reports of Rough-legged Hawks recently which were supported by photos. In each case, the bird in question has been a Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk. This includes a photo of the bird referred to below. 

Rough-legged Hawks are not a rarity, so not many questions are usually asked. However, these recent photo-documented cases bring up the identification conundrum between Roughies and Harlan's (they have been known to hybridize, btw: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/hybrid_halhxrlha/).

Some things to remember are that Rough-legged Hawks are irruptive. Some years they are plentiful throughout much of the state, but most years they are restricted to the eastern plains and mountain valleys and are seen only sporadically along the Front Range. They don't return to established winter territories, which is a classic habit of Harlan's Hawks. Just yesterday I identified a Harlan's Hawk an eighth of a mile away by naked eye based simply on the dark color and the perch it was on, one which has been used by the same exact bird for several years. Scope views confirmed my hunch. There was a famous light-morph Harlan's that spent many winters on 75th St and St. Vrain Rd in Boulder County and who was photographed at a hawk watch in Alaska one spring. For at least five winters it could be found on the same exact telephone pole, or within a few hundred yards of it. There was an excellent piece in Colorado Birds 44:1 about this story: http://cobirds.org/JournalArchives/2010-2019/2010%20Vol%2044/CB_2010_44_1_Jan.pdf

Also remember that dark-morph Rough-legged Hawks are very uncommon in the state. Harlan's are superficially similar, especially those with a pale tail with a wide dark terminal band. They invariably have white streaking on the breast, a feature not shown on dark-morph Rough-legged Hawks. The kicker is that Roughies have feathers tarsi, unlike Red-tailed Hawks of any ilk. 

Keep on enjoying these Arctic visitors, 

Christian Nunes

Longmont

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Date: Tue, 19 Jan 2016 13:47:19 -0800
From: ironekilz@gmail.com
To: cobirds@googlegroups.com
Subject: [cobirds] Re: Rough-Legged Hawk in Longmont (Boulder County)

Thanks for the heads up!  

--Jamie Simo

Longmont, CO

On Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at 10:57:34 AM UTC-7, Kat Bradley-Bennett wrote:

A Rough-Legged Hawk has again taken up winter residence in Blue Skies Park in west Longmont.  I've seen it perched on the perching poles in the park and in a tree near the intersection of Clover Basin Drive and Grandview Meadows Drive, nest to the sledding hill.

Kat Bradley-Bennett
Longmont

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