States
North CarolinaTennesseeGeorgiaSouth CarolinaKentuckyAlabamaArkansasFloridaLouisianaMississippiVirginiaWest Virginia
Menu

Bird

Rough-legged Hawk

Buteo lagopus

A winter visitor to West Virginia, found in all 55 counties and 6 habitats.

Here
Winter
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 55 counties
Habitats
6

At a glance

Group
Birds
Here
Winter
Nesting
Not known to nest here
Range
All 55 counties
Habitats
6
Habitat models
Winter

Where it lives

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

Habitats in West Virginia 6

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

1 of 6

Floodplain and bottomland forests

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

WinterSouth-Central Interior Large Floodplain

Granite and other acidic rock outcrops

Bare or thin-soil rock on granite, gneiss, sandstone, quartzite and similar acidic rock, including granite flatrocks and domes.

WinterNorth-Central Appalachian Acidic Cliff and Talus

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

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

WinterDeveloped, Open Space; Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay; Disturbed/Successional - Grass/Forb Regeneration; Utility Swath - Herbaceous; Disturbed, Non-specific; Ruderal Upland - Old Field

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

Streams, rivers and their banks

Flowing water and its banks, bars and rocky shoals.

WinterCumberland Riverscour
Other habitats in its models (42)

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

In West Virginia 1

  • North-Central Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff and Talus Winter.
Elsewhere in the South (15)
  • Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish 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.
  • 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.
Northeast (3)
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Sandy Beach Winter.
  • Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh 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 (18)
  • 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.
  • Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Tidal Marsh Systems 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 (Beach/Dune) Winter.
  • Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in West Virginia

  • Winter: does not nest here, in all 55 counties.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in West 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.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Birds 89

Plants 905

All of roadsides, fields and disturbed ground in West Virginia

Mountain balds

Birds 27

Plants 65

All of mountain balds in West Virginia

Granite and other acidic rock outcrops

Birds 11

Plants 36

All of granite and other acidic rock outcrops in West Virginia

USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.

Sources