Sunday afternood, while driving behind Big Island Wildlife Area on
LaRue-Green Camp Rd. that lead back towards LaRue, I spotted what looked to
be a large Crow on a branch...First I thought I caught a sighting of the
elusive half Crow/Half Eagle, Creagle that they are always seeing up around
Cleveland in early March. (Before I get emails from the uninitiated, see
this post by Dave Lewis:
http://burdzbuttz.blogspot.com/2009/03/creagles.html).

Well, It wasn't a super sized crow...or a Raven (Yeah, that would have been
a bird for the eBird mods. ;-D )  It was a Dark-morph Rough-legged
Hawk...My first that I have seen without help. :-D
The GPS location was here:  40.5633772,-83.3438251  Of course it is not
there now, but it will get you in the ballpark of where I spotted it.
Picture here: http://www.sjlarue.com/p656698502/e28d667cd .  eBird list
below, online list has picture embedded in it as well as a map location
feature.

This was actually my fourth Rough-legged Hawk around LaRue in the last two
days.  So they are finally making their way here.

*opine*

My personal tip for spotting them in trees while going 50mph; Red-tailed
Hawks around here tend to perch lower in the trees, on thick side branches.
They are bigger, and have a whitish "Belly" Rough-legged Hawks are usually
for me higher in the tree tops...like on the very tip of the top. Three of
the four were in the top quarter of the canopy, where the Dark-morph was
lower at about half way...but the wind was high today, so maybe it was
retreating to a more stable location.  They also are more brown (or black)
in the belly.   Both act the same, if they see you, they fly off. :-D

*end opine*

The south side of the Scioto that runs along the border of Big Island
Wildlife Area has a lot of switch-grass that are frequented by hawks, owls,
sparrows, and such.  So don't forget to run along LaRue-Green Camp Rd when
visiting Big Island.  this Road runs from just outside LaRue to just
outside Green Camp and is a road less traveled.

Happy Birding, and God Bless!

Steve J.

LaRue to Big Island South of Scioto River, Marion, US-OH
Jan 18, 2015 2:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
7.0 mile(s)
Comments:     Switch Grass Fields south of Big Island Wildlife Area
6 species

Northern Harrier  1
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Rough-legged Hawk  1     Dark Morph
American Tree Sparrow  20
Dark-eyed Junco  10
Northern Cardinal  2

View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S21402531

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