Family Hawks, Eagles (Accipitridae)
Least Concern
Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus)
Taxonomy
French: Buse pattue German: Raufußbussard Spanish: Busardo calzado
Other common names:
Rough-legged Hawk
Taxonomy:
Falco Lagopus
Pontoppidan
, 1763,no locality = Denmark
.
Subspecies and Distribution
B. l. lagopus
(Pontoppidan, 1763) – N Eurasia from Scandinavia E to area of R Ob and R Yenisey; winters mainly in C Europe E to C Asia.
B. l. menzbieri
Dementiev, 1951 – NE Asia E of R Ob and R Yenisey; winters from C Asia E to China and Japan.
B. l. kamtschatkensis
Dementiev, 1931 – shores of Sea of Okhotsk, Kamchatka and Kuril Is; presumably winters in SE Russia, NE & E China and Japan.
B. l. sanctijohannis
(J. F. Gmelin, 1788) – Alaska and N Canada; winters S Canada and most of USA.
Descriptive notes
45–63 cm; male 600–1377 g, female 783–1660 g; wingspan 120–153 cm. Plumage highly variable, from mostly dark to rather pale, with dark carpal patches... read more
Voice
Mostly silent away from breeding grounds. Alarm call near nest a loud, mewing squeal “... read more
Habitat
Essentially found in tundra, mainly treeless, although also wooded tundra and even extreme N taiga... read more
Food and feeding
Small mammals normally make up 80% or more of prey; mainly voles and lemmings in breeding range, and also many voles in winter quarters; of... read more
Breeding
Usually lays from May–Jun, occasionally in late Apr or early Jul. Nests at vantage points, normally high on cliffs, rocky outcrops or... read more
Movements
Migratory, with breeding range and winter quarters usually quite separate. Date, duration and... read more
Status and conservation
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES II. Widespread and fairly common in boreal regions of Holarctic, where neither species nor habitat are subject to excessive... read more
Formerly placed, together with B. regalis, in now obsolete genus Triorchis or Archibuteo. Has hybridized with B. buteo in Norway#R and Finland#R. Variation clinal in Palearctic, with broad zones of intergradation between races; menzbieri sometimes merged into kamtschatkensis. Four subspecies normally recognized.