One of my favorite wintertime visitors. During the summer, these raptors hang out on the arctic tundra. Winter sees them migrate south where they can be seen across much of the contiguous United States.

With the colder weather, I will oftentimes see them out on the plains, keeping watch and waiting to make a meal of an unsuspecting mouse or vole. This year I haven’t had too much luck getting pics of them but this past weekend I finally got one to at least give me a few captures. The light and sky were kinda cruddy but it was fun to get the opportunity.

Is the photographer on the menu? Wow! You might think so from this capture, eh?

An absolutely awesome encounter this past Saturday with this Arctic visitor. I have been seeing a few of them northeast of Denver lately and I love photographing them. They are just gorgeous and usually quite tolerant of having their picture taken.

This one was resting in a field when I initially spotted it. When it took flight, much to my surprise, it circled and flew right back at me, not 20 feet over my heat. I managed an entire series of images of it as it focused on me, this being my favorite shot of the bunch. Way cool!

This was a pleasant surprise yesterday. I spotted this handsome hawk hovering over a field, looking for a meal below. As I trained my camera on it, I was pleased to see exactly what it was. It was pretty patient, hunting and largely ignoring me before deciding a meal wasn’t to be had in that spot and moving on.

Looking back, this is the earliest in the season I have ever seen one of these with all previous first sightings having happened around mid-December.

Rough-legged hawks spend their summers in the Arctic where they mate and then spend winters in southern Canada and the lower 48. One of their most notable features is that their legs are feathered all the way down to the toes, one of only three American raptors like that. The other two being the ferruginous hawk and the golden eagle.

While I have seen many of these winter visitors in recent months, none have been particularly cooperative – except this one. I spotted it recently at a state park on the Colorado plains and after giving me some nice poses, it took flight nearly directly overhead.

This may end up being the last one I see for a while as soon they will be returning north to their breeding grounds in the Arctic. These hawks get their name from their feathered legs. They, ferruginous hawks and the golden eagle are the only raptors with feathers all the way down to their toes.

Finally! I have historically had pretty good luck getting images of these wintertime visitors to the Colorado Front Range. This season though, they just haven’t wanted to play nice with me.

On New Year’s Eve I spotted one on a utility pole northeast of Denver and decided to give it another shot. While it did not stick around to pose, it did at least give me a flyby. It was a bit distant so the images had to be cropped more than I would like but they didn’t come out too bad.

They are absolutely beautiful raptors. During the winter, they spend time in much of the lower 48 states. Summers will find them on the Arctic tundra on northern Alaska and Canada.

My first quality pics of of the season for these largely winter visitors to Colorado’s plains. This gorgeous raptor was patrolling the fields near Denver International Airport and I raced to keep up.

Suddenly it took a turn right toward me so I slammed the brakes and started shooting, capturing this image just as it flew overhead. Judging by the look on its face, it was watching me as much as I was it.

Rough Legged Hawks spend their summers in the Arctic where they mate and then spend winters in southern Canada and the lower 48.