Rough-legged hawk

All my friend Karen Copeland had to say was "rough-legged hawk" and she knew I'd be on the road to Amarillo. It didn't happen that way but it almost did.

Rough-legged hawks come to the Texas Panhandle in winter. We don't get them where I live 600 miles across the state on the coast. So a chance to photograph rough-legged hawks is a treat.

Two years ago, Karen and I drove the back roads in the winter around Amarillo photographing hawks. We had a blast and talked about repeating the adventure. My husband, Gary, had time off this winter and I knew he was eager to head outside. When Karen started emailing that the hawks were in for the winter, we started planning our trip.

We were not disappointed once we got to Amarillo. There was a nice coat of snow covering the landscape and the sun was shinning. The winds were mild and I attribute that to the photography gods.

The three of us drove hundreds of miles along small county roads for three days. We put on the brakes for every hawk, falcon, or eagle. Some let us photograph them, like the rough-legged hawk above, and some flew from their perch the moment we thought about stopping. We celebrated with every good encounter. Karen had a little war cry "whaa who-o-o!" that she let out with each successful stop. Sure was fun!