My wife Betsy and I drove out to Stevens Rd (border of Norwich and Thetford, just west of US Rte 5) this morning.
Had a pretty good look at the Rough-Legged Hawk, at a distance. Seen at the top of a pine tree about 200 yds south of the road from a vantage point where the road takes a sharp right hand turn up the hill, just 100 yds or so up from Rte 5. This sounds like the same tree where others have observed it. The tree is to the right and slightly up hill from the barn as you look to the south from the road. Because to the hill, you can only see the top part of the tree from this viewpoint.
Quite striking appearance in the strong morning sunlight, even at a distance. The throat and upper breast appeared quite light colored, white to slightly yellowy in the sun, suggesting the female light morph as pictured in Sibley's. The light morph part is a cinch, sex really uncertain.
We watched for about 10 minutes hoping to see it in flight. The farmer (who is quite friendly and glad to have birders come to observe - although he mentioned to keep in mind that the fence around his field is electrified) interrupted his chores to come over and chat for a moment. Thirty seconds later, we looked back to the pine tree and the hawk had flown! We lingered another 5 minutes or so, but were unable to pick up the bird again.
Went to eBird VT to log the sighting. Rough-Legged is unusual enough here that you have to click on the "Show Rarities" button to get it to display on the list of hawks.
Thanks to all who have shared info on this bird!
Bill Schults
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phone: 802-649-2801
work (days): 603-650-9085
cell: 603-738-7367
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From: [log in to unmask] [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2015 11:36 AM
To: William Schults
Subject: eBird Report - Stevens Rd, Norwich, VT, Mar 29, 2015
Stevens Rd, Norwich, VT, Windsor, US-VT
Mar 29, 2015 10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Protocol: Stationary
1 species
Rough-legged Hawk 1 Light Morph, seen in pine tree ~200 yds south of the barn, similar location as reported by others
View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22571773
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org/vt)
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