Rough-legged Buzzard

Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) is a broad-winged northern raptor with feathering down to the toes, a dark belly patch and a pale tail crossed by a dark terminal band. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in Arctic and subarctic country, migrates south for winter and hunts mainly voles and lemmings over open land, often hovering before dropping onto prey. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).