Rough-legged Hawk over Montrose Point (click to see the larger version)

Two Rough-legged Hawks flew over Montrose on November 9. What’s interesting is that conditions weren’t favorable for hawk migration – overcast skies, light rain, and breezy south winds. Montrose is known for many things birdwise but we don’t do well with migrating buteos. Reasons for this discrepancy could be a lack of birders looking up for hawks and our proximity to Lake Michigan, which may scare away migrating buteos. Rough-legged Hawks aren’t intimidated by large bodies of water, which, oddly, may be the reason why we see more of them in active migration than other buteos, though they’re still rare.