Metro Area Rough Legged Hawk in November.

Rough-Legged Hawks Return to Minnesota

I’ve recieved reports of rough-legged hawks already in Minnesota this October! I recieved a couple of reported sightings from outstate Minnesota and I witnessed one myself yesterday in Blaine. Rough-legged hawks are a fairly common sight in winter but October has already seen a return of rough legged hawks a month or two before I typically see a rough-legged hawk. Rough-legged hawks are birds of the open tundra and it’s been said that rough legged hawks had a great nesting season in the summer or 2024 and many of these birds have moved south early to find wintering habitat and hunt.

Rough-legged hawks breed on the tundra all across the northern hemisphere. They nest on treeless tundra and the edges of the boreal forest. A typical pair will incubate 1-7 eggs. They hatch around 35 days and spend another 40 or so days in the nest before fledging. While on the tundra they eat mammals and birds. Most of the rough legged hawks we see in Minnesota have migrated south from the Canadian tundra. These visitors to Minnesota are not considered rare but they are prized find by birders and wildlife photographers.

Rough-legged hawks usher in winter in the northland. Rough-legged hawks can been viewed across Minnesota hunting rodents over grasslands. The rough legged hawk is slightly smaller than a red tail hawk with a wingspan of 53 inches. Rough-legged are most easily identified by hovering over the grass helicopter like. Many of them have large spots on their wings and others are very dark with no visible spots while others have a white head. One other tell tale sign of a rough legged hawk is they will perch at the very top of branches so skinny you’d think there’s no way that branch could support them. Once found they are a reliable find for any birder and photographer. Rough-legged hawks will continue to hunt an area as long as a food source is readily available. I’ve observed them as single birds and as a large group of birds in a single open area. My most “famous” find was within the city limits of Blaine a few years back. There were a dozen rough-legged hawks in this open area of bog/grassland all winter long. This pattern held for a couple of winters until the area started to be developed for housing and retail.

Rough-legged hawks are most active during the early morning and late afternoon. They hunt moving into the wind. I’ve observed them swooping in on a meal, typical of other brids of prey, as well as hovering over prey and in helicopter fashion drop straight down onto a rodent.

It’s my experience that many rough legged hawks are not as fearful of people as most hawks. I’ve been approached by them very closely by air and I even had one catch a rodent within 30 feet of me! This particular bird sat on the ground devouring it’s dinner with me sitting in the grassland in plain sight only feet away.

If you are a nature/birding afficianado you will enjoy finding and watching rough-legged hawks. Look for them almost anywhere there is open grassland in Minnesota. Even small areas. I’ve seen them on lightposts at the corner of Hwy 36 and 35W. Typically the bigger the grassland the better the chance of viewing them. My favored areas are outstate Minnesota particularly south and east of St Paul towards Rochester and north of Blaine both eastward toward Grantsburg Wisconsin and westward toward Princeton. Northern Minnesota harbors many as well. Especially early in winter or winters that have little snow cover. When the snow gets deep they move southward to better hunting grounds. Some move far south in search of wintering areas. They have been observed as far south as northern Mexico.

Winter is coming and along with it are the prized rough-legged hawks.

Rough Legged Hawks

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