Some days I bring my camera to work, other days I leave it at home so there are less things to carry around. Unfortunately today was one of the days I left home without it. I won't be making that mistake again anytime soon because you never know what you are going to see out at the landfill. Turns out today that it was something special. A Rough-legged Hawk was seen hovering some 50 feet away from the truck and dropping down on prey. He was so close and I didn't have my camera. After around two minutes he was gone over the side of a hill. I was mad I missed my opportunity.
All was not lost however. I made a call to my wonderful wife and she brought me my camera. With it in tow I went looking for the Rough-legged Hawk and it didn't take long to find it again. The pictures I was able to get were nowhere near as good as my first opportunity, but I was close enough to capture a few shots of it in flight that clearly show field marks. The black belly, white tail with a black band, black at the bend of the wings and along the wing edges.
The photos are nothing special but they do serve as photographic evidence.
This is not a common bird for Jefferson County. They are usually seen in Kentucky around the strip mine areas of Ohio and Muhlenburg counties. It was begin harassed by the Red-tailed Hawks the entire time I saw him so there is no telling how long it will stay around. You can see a Red-tail Hawk in the third photo on the bottom of the picture. Good finds like this make for great days.
7:10 PM
Ryan Ankeny
