Marty Karlin of Jackson County sent me these pics he got near Tule Lake in Northern California: “This bird has caused some consternation. I thought it a roughie, [ONE BIRDER] said Ferruginous. It’s banded so I sent it to the banding folks who after researching it as a Ferruginous sent it to an expert in Canada who called it a light morph roughie. Its now making the rounds of the rough-legged banders to see who and where it was tagged. Want to offer an opinion? Marty”
February 12, 2021, UPDATE: Here is update on this raptor from banding team leader.
Marty, the photographer, emailed this note: “I just received this post From Buzz Hull, retired bander from the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.
‘Allen Fish forwarded your email and pictures of the roughleg to me. I don’t know if you’ve heard back from the BBL yet, but that bird was banded by one of my sub-permittees. It was banded on January 9, 2014, near the town of TuleLake, CA. The bander evaluated the bird as after it’s third year (ATY) and as a male, based on wing chord length. He and I have been color banding roughlegs in the Sacramento Valley and further north in Butte Valley and the Klamath Basin for more than ten years now. I have received 4 reports of encounters with these birds, two of which were within the same or the next year as banded, and two — including yours — seven years later.’
Towheeblog 
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