NATURE CLICKS #618 - ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK

Rough-legged Hawk, Green Island Wildlife Management Area, Iowa

Not so easy to get in front of the camera was a pair of Rough-legged Hawks I found yesterday on ”wildlife patrol” in the Green Island Wildlife Management Area. These hawks have their breeding grounds in tundra habitats of North America, way up north in Canada, but migrate to the Central United States for the winter. These opportunistic predators feed mostly on small mammals, like voles, mice, or even rabbits, but won’t refuse birds either.

SHARPI STRUCK AGAIN

Sharp-shinned Hawk

We received quite a bit of snow today, the first time this season worth to talk about. The numbers of birds visiting our feeders increased with every snow flake that hit the ground. The first thing I saw this morning while looking at the birds was our Sharp-shinned Hawk sitting in the snow of the driveway. I knew immediately what had happened because I witnessed it before at other times. The hawk had caught some prey midair and just rested with its kill for a moment. When the Sharpi finally took off I saw a small bird in its claws, probably a poor junco or a finch that wasn’t fast enough to hide.

The photo above is not from today but it lets us imagine what a fierce predator the Sharp-shinned Hawk is. With their distinctive proportions, long legs, short wings, and a long tail they can move in an acrobatic manner between trees and at top speeds in pursuit of small birds or mice.

NATURE CLICKS #302 - BLACK-TAILED PRAIRIE DOG

In almost every area we visited during our trip in South and North Dakota we found Black-tailed Prairie Dogs. Prairie dogs are highly social critters and just watching them in their large colonies can be fun and entertainment for many hours. I shot a lot of pictures and can promise you this will not be my last post about them. They have a system of using body language and sounds to warn and inform each other about a possible predator or whatever is approaching their so called prairie dog towns. Many of our photos were taken from the ”mobile blind”, our car, and that seemed to work very well quite often.