Rough-legged Hawks Buteo lagopus is described in Birds of the World as a "true Arctic Hawk." Rough-legged Hawks breed in the taiga and tundra of the arctic regions with a circumpolar distribution. In case you don't recall, the tundra is the area of the high arctic regions where there is permafrost, vegetation is low, summer is short, 6-8 weeks, and there is near constant daylight in summer. Taiga is the area south of the tundra where there is enough sunlight to fully thaw the ground and larger trees can grow. Rough-legged hawks breed in these far northern regions, but in winder many migrate southward so that beginning in about October we start to see "roughies" in Washington.
I was lucky enough to see this bird hunting over a wheat field in Douglas County of Eastern WA last week.
These are one of our easier buteos to identify, with their dark belly band, dark carpal patches, and whitish head.
This is a different perched bird from a different trip.
Although it is sad to see summer pass, our winter visitors make for good birding.
