Rough-legged Hawks, White-Tailed Deer and Wildlife Repellent

When critters hear that my sister Lee is in the area they run, fly, swim, slither, trot and scamper to the nearest exit.  All that bad luck seems to multiply into good luck for me the moment she leaves.

This phenomenon has earned her the nickname "Wildlife Repellent".

I went from seeing next to nothing with her in the morning to meeting a beautiful deer pretty much the moment we parted company.


"You may take my picture...now that Lee is gone"

 A few minutes after that I found three Rough-Legged Hawks hunting in the same field.  Next to Harriers, they are my favourite hawk and I don't get to see them very often, so to find three was a thrill.  Once I realized they weren't skittish, I sat in the middle of the field for an hour taking sh*ts (sorry Ann, couldn't resist).



There was one dark-morphed hawk in the group and he seemed to gravitate toward me, at one time catching lunch about 10 feet away from where I was hunkered down.

The Rough-Legged hawk, like the Golden Eagle, has feathers all the way to his toes and I saw this today when they were hovering in high winds.  Despite their size, their feet are very small, more like pigeon talons!

Rough-Legged Hawk, Dark Morph

I am hoping to get a second chance at these guys because the dark colour of the bird and the angle of the sun made shooting difficult.  Hopefully they will be around tomorrow.
Regardless, it was so exciting to be able to spend time with them today.