The Rough-legged Hawk Project began in 2014 under Jeff Kidd of Kidd Biological, Inc. to answer questions related to Rough-legged Hawk movement ecology. Kidd had been placing transmitters on Rough-legs in the western United States when Neil Paprocki, PhD candidate at the University of Idaho, joined the project. Since then, Neil has increased the number of birds in the study to about 200 and expanded transmitter deployment to the eastern United States. By broadening the geographic scope of the project, he seeks to answer why differential migration occurs and why migration distance varies among individuals.
Neil Paprocki (left) and Sue Kaehler (right) pose with Owen, a Rough-legged Hawk who received a transmitter near Stevens Point, WI on December 12, 2022 (photo courtesy of Neil Paprocki).
Wisconsin is in a unique position geographically because migrating birds can fly east or west of Lake Superior and Hudson Bay, choices influenced by a variety of factors. Sue Kaehler, Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station bander and treasurer on their board of directors, read about the project and was eager to have Wisconsin birds represented. She contacted Neil in February 2021 and offered to sponsor two transmitters deployed in Wisconsin. Sue inspired Madison Audubon and a wildlife-loving friend, Kelly Centofanti of Centofanti Law, SC, to also each sponsor a transmitter. In December of that year, we fitted a female Rough-leg near Goose Pond Sanctuary with a transmitter as part of the project, who we named Dorothy.
After such interesting results in the first year, Sue and Kelly had agreed to sponsor additional transmitters for a second year. Thanks to the generous donors who gave to the Reckless Wrens, one of Madison Audubon’s Great Wisconsin Birdathon teams, we raised enough to sponsor another transmitter as well! Neil made plans to return to Wisconsin.
However, in 2022 Rough-legged Hawks were harder to come by than they were the year prior. Sue spotted at least ten Rough-legs near the Sheboygan Marsh and Killsnake state wildlife areas in 2021. In 2022 she found none prior to Neil's arrival. Around the Goose Pond area, volunteers and staff located seven Rough-legs in 2021, but in 2022, they found only one without a transmitter (two were spotted, but one of them was Dorothy!).
When Neil arrived on December 16, we headed first to The Prairie Enthusiasts’ Hauser Road Prairie, where that bird had been spotted. As we drove around the area, we only saw American Crows and Red-tailed Hawks.
Dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk (photo by Emma Raasch/Madison Audubon).
Next, we went north to White River Marsh SWA. On our way, we stopped at the intersection of Military Road and Highway 22 in the hopes of catching a dark phase Rough-leg spotted earlier that morning on the Pardeeville Christmas Bird Count by Susan Foote-Martin, Mark Martin, and Jenny McGinley, but we could not locate the bird.
Our luck did not immediately change once we arrived at White River Marsh. Although there was no shortage of Rough-legged Hawks (we saw somewhere between five and eight), the first two birds we tried for left us anxiously waiting for nearly 20 minutes before we gave up and moved on. We did not leave the traps out long for the third hawk, a light-morph, because it was flushed by another bird, a dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk. According to Neil, dark-morphs are fairly common in Wisconsin, so he hoped he would have one represented in his project.
We watched the two hawks circle each other, waiting to see if they were going to both fly off. Luckily, the dark-morph landed! We flicked two traps onto the side of the road and drove away to watch and wait. The hawk responded quickly and made a couple swoops before landing on one of them. Once the bird’s legs were ensnared, Neil sped over to the hawk, jumped out of the car, and secured the first dark-morph hawk caught in Wisconsin for the Rough-legged Hawk Project! With the bird in hand, Neil mentioned he was glad we missed the first few that day.
After untangling the hawk’s talons from the trap, we quickly processed the bird by:
Neil bands the dark-morph hawk. Note the namesake feathers giving their legs a “rough” appearance (photo by Emma Raasch/Madison Audubon).
Drawing blood and collected feathers for DNA analyses;
Swabbing the birds’ cloaca, beak, talons, and cheeks for data on the bird’s diet;
Recording measurements of the bird: right wing chord, left wing chord, right first secondary chord, tail, culmen, right hallux, weight, keel score & depth, crop fullness, eye color, age, and parasite count;
Fastening a band on the bird and recording the band number;
Attaching the transmitter, which contains a solar panel, battery, cell phone, and global positioning system software to provide precise location data.
Photographing the bird for information on plumage color and wing area
The dark-morph hawk was named Jeffrey after Jeff Lang, a 19-year DNR Wildlife Technician for Marquette and Green Lake Counties and Goose Pond volunteer, who recommended we visit White River Marsh. Thanks also to Tom Schultz, Wisconsin Society for Ornithology board member, who confirmed that suggestion. Without their insight, we may not have deployed a transmitter that day!
Neil used eBird reports, local birders, and his expertise to ensure all five transmitters were deployed. Although we would’ve expected an even distribution of males and females, the Wisconsin birds captured in 2022 were all males.
The Class of 2022 Wisconsin Rough-legged Hawks
2022 Wisconsin birds (courtesy of the Rough-legged Hawk Project).
Owen: Received transmitter on December 12th, 2022 near Buena Vista Prairie State Natural Area (SNA) and Leola Marsh SWA, south of Stevens Point. Sue Kaehler sponsored his transmitter and named him after nearby Owen’s Rock landmark.
Vaughn: Received transmitter on December 13th, 2022, also in the area surrounding Buena Vista Prairie SNA and Leola Marsh SWA, perched near a cranberry bog. Sue Kaehler sponsored his transmitter.
Ralphie: Received transmitter on December 15th, 2022 west of Green Bay. Kelly Centofanti sponsored Ralphie’s transmitter.
Lowell: Received his transmitter on December 15th, 2022 west of Green Bay. He was named by Sue Kaehler, who also sponsored his transmitter!
Where are they now?
Sue notes that there has been a lot of winter movement this year compared to last year, which makes for some interesting data!
Check out this map of their whereabouts as of January 8, 2023:
Movement data from the 2022 Wisconsin Rough-legged Hawks. Owen is shown in pink, Vaughn in blue, Lowell in green, Ralphie in yellow, and Jeffrey in red (photo courtesy of The Rough-legged Hawk Project).
Read more about the Wisconsin birds in Paul Smith’s recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (click here for the PDF).
Written by Emma Raasch, Goose Pond Sanctuary Ecological Restoration Technician, with Suzanne Kaehler, Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station treasurer on the board of directors and bander.
Cover image: Emma Raasch holds Jeffrey, the Rough-legged Hawk captured and equipped with a transmitter in December 2022 at White River Marsh SWA (photo by Neil Paprocki).
