tags: Rough-legged Hawk, Buteo lagopus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] light-morph Rough-legged Hawk, Buteo lagopus, photographed on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 26 November 2008 [larger view].
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
I'm going to guess Rough-legged Hawk for this one. I'm basing that mostly on the underwing pattern. I wish this bird's light leg feathers (I think that's what I'm seeing) matched up better with the illustrations. The tail is not quite right, too, at least according to Sibley, all of whose illustrations of Rough-legged have a tail showing a broader dark band, but other candidates seem to me to have other problems. I thought about Swainson's, but the time of year and light chest on this bird don't work well for that ID.
A light phase Rough-Leg. The wing pattern is right and that dark solid belly band clinch it. There are a few of both light and dark phase around here every winter. They are often seen hovering, like a huge kestrel, which ditinguishes them from similar sized redtails when seen at a distance. No other buteo does that.