Animalia Life

Buteo lagopus
SUBFAMILY
Accipitrinae
TAXONOMY
Falco lagopus Pontoppidan, 1763, Denmark. Four subspecies.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Rough-legged hawk; French: Buse pattue; German: RauhfulЯbussard; Spanish: Busardo Calzado.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
19.7–23.6 in (50–60 cm); male 21.2–48.7 oz (600–1380 g); female 27.5–58.6 oz (780–1660 g). Brown and white mottled plumage varies in intensity among subspecies. White tail with dark subterminal band.
DISTRIBUTION
B.l. lagopus: northern Eurasia from Scandinavia to River Yenisey, wintering south to central Europe and central Asia. B.l. menzbieri: northeastern Asia, wintering south to central Asia, northern China, and Japan. B.l. kamtschatkensis: Kamchatka, wintering south to central Asia. B.l. sanctijohannis: Alaska and northern Canada, wintering south to central and southern United States.
HABITAT
Mainly treeless tundra, but also wooded tundra and extreme northern taiga when lemmings and voles are abundant. Usually flat low country. Wintering grounds are also mainly flat, open country, including prairie, cropland, and marsh.
BEHAVIOR
Clear migrant with separate breeding and wintering grounds. Depart breeding grounds about September–October and return about April–May. Timing and extent of migration depends on seasonal prey abundance at either end.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Mainly preys on mammals, especially voles and lemmings. Also takes birds, other vertebrate including fish, insects and carrion, particularly when main prey scarce. Hunts by day, but occasionally crepuscular.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Breeds as solitary pair, laying in May–June. Monogamous. Usually nests on a protected ledge, high on a riverbank, cliff or rocky outcrop, rarely in tree. Builds a bulky nest of sticks lined with grass and prey remains; three to five eggs; greater number (up to seven) in good seasons when food abundant. Incubation about 30 days; fledging about five or six weeks.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. No obvious threats in breeding grounds but winter quarters are subject to habitat disturbance and other human pressures.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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