Winter Escape

Last weekend I finally found some time to venture out north of town. The time out away from the confines of the city was therapeutic after another long week of meetings, conference calls and various assorted work related chores. I traversed a familiar route through pine covered hills and across large expanses of agricultural fields to the end of a large open basin where I was pretty sure I could find a few wintering Rough-legged Hawks. My other motivation was to return to a Waterfowl Management Area where I knew I could let the dogs run and possibly even run into a pheasant or Sharp-tailed Grouse or two.

I did find a few Rough-legged Hawks including one individual who was quite oblivious to me and appeared much more intent on locating his next mean than worrying about the human below him with a camera.

The dog also got their walk and although we were unable to flush any birds, I suspect they were pretty happy just to get out and about too.

Rough-legged Hawks again

Yesterday I got to get out north of town with my friend Jeff. We didn't find much except for a large number of Rough-legged Hawks. One bird we found was sitting in the grass next to a spring (above).



But the bird that was the most fun to watch we first observed on a steep dive into the dense grass next to the road just ahead of us. We watched it emerge from the grass shortly after it disappeared, but it didn't look like he was carrying anything in his talons. We lost track of it as it flew south and we were distracted by another bird. We found him again just down the road on a fencepost and it was apparent the it had indeed captured a small mammal of some sort.











We watched as his finished the meal in just two large bites, then flew back over the grassy area to look for more.

March Migration

Last week was a bit brutal. We had a gorgeous day last Saturday but then the bottom fell out and by the middle of the week it was 20 below (see the graph below).



As the temperature moderated later in the week the biological March showed up and the Canada Geese began to arrive in earnest. I also saw my first Richardson's Ground Squirrel of the year, followed shortly by my first Ferruginous Hawk (which was eating a ground squirrel). The Rough-legged Hawk numbers have also increased and yesterday I saw at least 16 and this morning at least 12. There were Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, and a Northern Harrier around too. In recent years there have been a few nesting attempts by Bald Eagles and at least one year of successful reproduction. This morning I found two occupied nests with at least one bird incubating.

Here are a few shots of an accommodating Rough-legged Hawk.





This one perched here for a while but then flushed when a Ring-necked Pheasant flushed from the shrubs below him.



Here you can see the hawk looking down and back where the pheasant was leaving







There are a lot of Canada Geese moving through the area right now. Loose flocks of 20 or so birds can be observed flying in from further south then coalescing into larger feeding flocks in the fields near the river or on the ice still left along the river banks. The geese moved through a bit earlier last year (see my posts from last year here and here), but the cold weather must have slowed them down a bit this spring.

Rough-legged Hawk

One of the most common raptors wintering in Montana is the Rough-legged Hawk. They are often found perched on telephone poles in sagebrush habitats or perched in the small branches of trees. Even at a distance it is easy to identify this hawk by two behaviors not exhibited by other raptor species of this size in Montana in the winter. The first is the habit of perching on small branches as noted above. No other hawk of this size will perch at the ends of small branches like this. The other is their habit of hovering while searching for prey. Again, they are the only large raptor found in MT that will hover like this. Here are a few photos of a Rough-legged Hawks from Montana. In a few months they will be heading north to breed.