Ruffies

Light Morph individual

Liz and I have been birding together a couple of times a week lately. We have a great time hitting the river and the back roads to see what we can see.

I have many photographs of what is probably this same bird over
the past five years up by Dykeman's Dairy. It is reliable
and tame and feels like an old friend. It is often joined by a dark morph beauty.

Another shot

This winter has been an extravaganza of Rough-legged Hawks. There is an area over toward Charleston and Root, where it seems as if there are a couple every mile or so.

One day we got seven on one list and saw two more shortly afterwards.

As they run to charcoal and grey colors it is not easy to photograph them but they are birds of great beauty.

They are not worried by snow or wind

Sure is cool to see so many.  My favorites are the dark-morph ones....

Dark morph Rough-legged Hawk on Lynk Street today