Bird

Rough-legged Hawk

Buteo lagopus

A winter visitor to Virginia, found in 102 of 133 counties and cities and 9 habitats.

Here: Winter
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: 102 of 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 9

Male Rough-legged Hawk, whole bird — **Male**. (c) Martin Tremblay, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 609822814. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: Winter
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: 102 of 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 9
Habitat models: Winter

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in Virginia 9

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 9

WinterNorth-Central Appalachian Acidic Cliff and TalusBald Face above Lake Fairfield, Sapphire, North Carolina: a bare granite dome rising above forest and a still lake (photochrom print, about 1902). Shown: Bald Face (Big Bald Face) above Lake Fairfield, Sapphire, Jackson County, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Bald Face from Lake Fairfield, Sapphire, N.C., Detroit Publishing Co. (photochrom print), c. 1902. Public domain. Source record.

WinterDeveloped, Open Space; Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay; Disturbed/Successional - Grass/Forb Regeneration; Utility Swath - Herbaceous; Disturbed, Non-specific; Ruderal Upland - Old FieldLyell Carr, Black Mountain: a pasture and hayfield with a log barn, rail fence and grazing cow below the Black Mountains. Shown: Black Mountain, North Carolina (Lyell E. Carr), a neighboring state.Black Mountainlabel QS:Len,"Black Mountain", Lyell Carr, c. 1890-1912. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Northern Sandy Beach; Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland

Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)

Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.

Winter

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

WinterSouth-Central Interior Large Floodplain

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Mountain balds

Treeless grassy or shrubby summits and ridges in the high mountains.

WinterSouthern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Shrub Modifier; Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Herbaceous Modifier

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh

Shale barrens

Steep, sun-baked slopes of loose shale with sparse oaks and Virginia pine and their own endemic wildflowers. Linked only where the source names shale barrens; calcareous shale stays with the limestone glades.

Winter

Other habitats in its models (35)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia. Those recorded in Virginia first, the rest by region.

In Virginia 1

North-Central Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff and Talus Winter.

Elsewhere in the South (13)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Winter.
Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Winter.
Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Winter.
Cumberland Riverscour Winter.
Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Winter.
Southern Blackland Tallgrass Prairie Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Winter.

Midwest (5)

Central Interior Acidic Cliff and Talus Winter.
Central Interior Calcareous Cliff and Talus Winter.
Central Mixedgrass Prairie Winter.
Central Tallgrass Prairie Winter.
North-Central Interior Sand and Gravel Tallgrass Prairie Winter.

Land cover and other classes (16)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Winter.
Barren Land Winter.
Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Winter.
Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Winter.
Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Winter.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Winter.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Winter.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Winter.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland and Forbland Winter.
Recently Burned Winter.
Recently Burned Forest Winter.
Recently Burned Grassland Winter.
Recently Logged Areas Winter.
South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in Virginia

Winter: does not nest here, in 102 of 133 counties and cities.

County or city

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in Virginia, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.