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Rough-legged Hawk
Buteo lagopus
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| Status: Lower risk |
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| Population Trend: Stable. |
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| Other Names: American Rough-legged Hawk (sanctijohannis), Rough-leg, Rough-legged Buzzard, Siberian Rough-legged Buzzard (kamschatkensis). |
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more photos
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| Distribution: Nearctic/Palearctic. Breeds across the entire arctic and subarctic zones of the Holarctic from Scandinavia through northern Eurasia across RUSSIA to northern SIBERIA and KAMCHATKA and North America in Alaska and northern CANADA; winters south to UNITED STATES, northern MEXICO, central Europe, southern Russian Far East, JAPAN, KOREA, northeastern CHINA, and TAIWAN. more.... |
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| Subspecies: 4 races. B. l. kamtschatkensis: KAMCHATKA; presumably winters in east-central ASIA; B. l. lagopus: Northern EURASIA from SCANDINAVIA east through RUSSIA to area of Orb and Yenisey Rivers; winters mainly in central EUROPE and central ASIA; B. l. menzbieri: Northeastern ASIA east of Ob and Yenisey Rivers; winters south to central ASIA, northern CHINA, and JAPAN; B. l. sanctijohannis: ALASKA and northern CANADA; winters south to central and southern UNITED STATES and northern MEXICO. more....
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| Taxonomy: Gjershaug et al. (2006) recently reported the successful breeding of a mixed pair of Common Buzzard (male) and Rough-legged Buzzard (female) in Norway. |
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| Movements: Complete long distance migrant (Bildstein 2006). Individuals breeding in Eurasia usually winter between 40ºN and 60ºN between central Europe and the Pacific Coast (Brown and Grice 2005). This species is irruptive in some winters when the availability of their prey (rodents or lagomorphs) is unusually low. more.... |
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| Habitat and Habits: In its Asian breeding range, it is found in montane and coastal tundra and in sparse taiga; in winter, it occurs in steppes, mountains, grassland, farmland, and wetlands (Brazil 2009). In England, wintering birds occur in almost any open habitat, including areas of arable farmland, but they are most numerous in salt marshes, freshwater wetlands, heaths, and grasslands (Brown and Grice 2005). In Armenia, it prefers higher elevations near mountain steppe and open juniper woodland; seen near extensive fields with a thin snow cover (Adamian and Klem 1999). Perches on isolated dead trees, high cliffs, antennas, and telephone poles near open fields, or soars at great heights over snow-covered fields (Adamian and Klem op cit.). more.... |
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| Food and Feeding Behavior: Feeds on small rodents (lemmings, voles) and more rarely on birds (Flint 1984, Adamian and Klem 1999)). The nesting success, population density, and extent of migratory movements are closely related to the cycles of small rodents, including lemmings and voles. Hovers like a kestrel. |
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| Breeding: Builds a stick nest placed on rocky cliffs, slopes, on promontories, or, more rarely, in trees. Clutch size is 3-6 eggs, which are white with brown markings. more.... |
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| Conservation: Widespread and common throughout most its range. Categorized globally as a species of "Least Concern" by BirdLife International. more.... |
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| Population Estimates: The European population was estimated at 91,000 to 140,000 breeding pairs by BirdLife International/European Bird Census Council (2000), but later revised downward to 38,000 to 79,000 breeding pairs (BirdLife International 2004). |
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Important References:
Bent, A.C. 1937. Life histories of North American birds of prey. Order
Falconiformes (Part 1). U.S. National Museum Bulletin 167.
BirdLife International/European Bird Census Council. 2000. European bird
populations: estimates and trends. BirdLife Conservation Series no. 10.
BirdLife International,Cambridge, UK.
Orta, J. 1994. Rough-legged Hawk. P. 188 in del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and
J. Sargatal (eds). Handbook of birds of the world. Vol. 2. New World
vultures to guineafowl. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
more....
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| Sites of Interest: |
VIREO
Rough-legged Hawk photos.
europeanraptors.org
Species account, with an emphasis on European populations.
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Researchers:
Bildstein, Keith
Bloom, Peter
Franke, Alastair
Pokrovsky, Ivan
Preston, Charles
Smith, Jeff
Sokolov, Alexander
Watson, Jim
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Last modified: 2/9/2010 |
Recommended Citation: Global Raptor Information Network. 2013. Species account: Rough-legged Hawk Buteo lagopus. Downloaded from http://www.globalraptors.org on 22 May. 2013
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