[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Rough-legged Hawk still at Alligator River



I saw a Rough-legged Hawk at Alligator River NWR today.  I searched for
it unsuccessfully for two hours on Wednesday, but today found it after
only about 10 minutes of searching.  It was at the far east end of the
fields, about 1/2 mile from the road perpendicular to a point just south
of the NWR building complex; the general area where it has been reported
by others.

Since the bird had been reported both in that vicinity and over near the
landfill, during my initial fruitless search I didn't search any one
area thoroughly but drove back and forth the full length of the road.
Today I was fortunate that it flew briefly and caught my eye as I drove
in.  It then sat on the ground as I waited nearly an hour to see it
airborne again, and that for only a couple of seconds as it moved only a
short distance.  Finally I left and birded elsewhere for a short time,
returning after about half an hour to find that the bird had still not
budged.

My views were very distant and somewhat blurred by heat distortion, but
I could see clearly that the bird was quite light breasted and had a
rather solid black belly band, sharply contrasting with the light
breast.  This leads me to think that the bird is an immature or adult
female.

I didn't preserve the earlier reports of the bird so I don't know
whether it was first identified as male or female.  The one note that I
saved is the one from Harry LeGrand, who identified it as an adult male.
But since this is also the only posted report from Long Curve Road
rather than Milltail Road, could there be two different birds in two
locations, one male and one female?

Kent.Fiala@sas.com
Raleigh NC