Rough-legged Hawks

Dec 08, 2011

by Steve Blight

The arrival of cold weather and snow means usually means that even the very last stragglers of “our” summer birds have gone. But the beginning of winter also usually heralds the return of our winter birds, including some interesting birds of prey.

The Rough-legged Hawk is a raptor that spends its winter with us. This big hawk is a true northern species, nesting on cliffs, boulders, riverbank ledges and other high points from the shores of Hudson Bay north to the high Arctic. In Ontario, there are only a few records of nests, and all are from atop man-made structures at abandoned radar sites on the coast of Hudson Bay.

Rough-legged Hawks begin to arrive in our area from their arctic summer homes in October. They prefer extensive open areas like pastures, hay fields and marshes, where they hunt for the small rodents that are their main prey.

This is a big hawk – at about 55 cm in length (about 22 inches) it’s about the same size as the other common hawk of open country, the Red-tailed Hawk. There is a good deal of variation in the plumage of this bird, but it generally is a brownish white bird with patches of dark brown or black. Three features help in its identification: The first is a band of darker coloured feathers across the breast; the second is the pattern of at least one dark band on a light-coloured tail. This field mark distinguishes the Rough-legged Hawk from the Red-tailed Hawk with its – you guessed it – reddish tail; and finally, and this really helps when the bird is seen from below with its wings open, are the squarish black patches on the light undersides of the wings right at the “wrists”. 

People usually see this hawk doing one of two things. The first is quietly surveying wide open areas from an exposed perch on a tall tree. From this perch it can survey the ground in the hope of picking up signs of the voles that it seeks for food. The second is hovering in the breeze or in updrafts. This is one of the few raptors that frequently hovers, often with its fully feathered legs dangling down.

Rough-legged Hawks are known to frequently move around in both winter and summer, abandoning areas with low prey numbers and searching for areas with more food. In some winters it can be totally absent from our area when numbers of voles are low, and in other years it seems like there is a hawk at the edge of every field. One very popular area to see this bird in winter is on Wolfe and Amherst Islands off Kingston. When voles are abundant on these islands, Rough-legged Hawks and other birds of prey can be downright plentiful. During past Christmas Bird Counts, it has not been uncommon to spot over a hundred Rough-legged Hawks on these islands.

When the sun’s rays begin to get stronger and the snow and ice disappear in April, Rough-leggeds begin their journey northward to their arctic breeding grounds. You would think they would stick around a bit to enjoy some of the warm weather, but these birds are true cold-weather creatures, and north they must go.

Please feel free to report any observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.