This is Birdnode, the plains and the prairies, wide open spaces where the wind blows free,

where there are few hills or elevated perches, where the rough-legged hawk goes hunting.

When the air is still, it's inclined to rest, but as the wind picks up, the rough-legged

hawk takes to the sky.

It defies gravity, flying upwards with just enough force, hovering in midair with rapidly

beating wings and lowered feet and tail.

Running for its prey of lemmings, voles, and short-tailed mice that are active during

the day.

After breeding on arctic cliffs and tundra hillsides in summer months, rough-legged hawks

winter all across the northern hemisphere.

Open country is their ideal territory, where the small rodents they depend on are usually

so plentiful that the hawks have enough to eat.

The rodents are cyclic, with lower populations in some years, and in those winters, rough legs

may migrate farther and be more abundant in the lower 48.

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