Rough-legged Hawk!

Yesterday I was surprised when a very large bird landed in the maple far across the golf course but straight out in front of me.  It looked largely white when it landed, facing me but sitting among lots of branches.  I thought it was probably a hawk, but I'm not very good at identifying hawks unless it's really obvious, and certainly not this far away.  I reached for the camera and quickly started taking pictures.

My first shot was like this, a long way away and not quite in focus because of all the branches.  It was looking mostly white underneath.

Then it spread its wings and hopped sideways, but still behind lots of branches.  At this point I could tell it was a hawk at least, and my mind started checking off the possibilities - there aren't many.

Twenty minutes later I was astonished when it landed in the maple tree right outside our window!  I've hardly ever seen a hawk of any kind this close.  Of course at this time of year it might be a juvenile without its adult feather pattern, making identification even more challenging for me.

So I looked up 'ebird' which provides records of bird species seen in Grey County over the entire year.  I was thinking it might be a Rough-legged Hawk, and I looked up the records for that species.  Rough-legged Hawks nest in the Arctic, catching Lemmings for food.  They typically appear this far south at the beginning of November.  And they're typically a darker brown with no sign of the red in a Red-tailed or Red-shouldered Hawk.  So far it was making sense.

A final clue came as it abruptly sailed away across the grass, with its wide spread tail, typical of this species.  So I conclude it's a Rough-legged Hawk, the first one I've really had the chance to identify myself.  That'll be a highlight of this winter's birding!

Meanwhile, I was amazed at how much I could crop my best shot even further when taken with a good lens like this.  It makes what you can do with an iphone seem pretty limited.