I was walking along the bike path just south of Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District 49th St. Outflow from the waste water treatment plant (Cuyahoga County Birding Hot Spot in the Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation). There had been a lot of waterfowl in the stream. I was checking my list of birds when I saw a cottontail rabbit flopping around in the snow on top of the frozen canal. It was obviously injured. On the opposite side of the path where there is a field were two deciduous trees. A red-tailed hawk was perched in one. A light morph rough-legged hawk was perched in the other. Both hawks took off when they saw me looking at them. I got a good long look at the rough-legged hawk with my binoculars. I’m guessing both hawks were watching the rabbit. Maybe one of them injured it. 

Rough-legged hawks have been reported in this area in the past. Some have been seen a couple of miles south hunting near I-480 and Transportation Boulevard.

______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.


You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS
Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]