BC Fairgrounds 11/5--Rough-legged Hawk

I have been informed that
this is actually a Red-tailed Hawk.
However, I did see the real
Rough-legged in flight later

The universe went back into sync the other day when a Rough-legged Hawk showed up at the Burlington County Fairgrounds. Every year the grasslands of the former Mercer Sod Farm hosts this tundra breeding species, but this winter, one didn't show up. The Fairgrounds are where Shari & I got our lifer Rough-leg, after numerous trips, and almost every year since then, I've stopped by to find one, a kind of sentimental journey. 

This morning, early, I made the trip out there and immediately ran into a couple of birders I know that I hadn't seen in quite a while. I was hanging around the little pond (which has signage around it that says "Meadow Habitat" which is like labeling my lawn a forest), hoping to see the American Bittern that had also been reported. I thought it might be a little early for the hawk to be up and about as there were no thermals yet. We exchanged phone numbers and they went off to search out the hawk while I circled the pond. Just as I had made one turn around it I got a call that they thought they had the bird. I drove over and looked in their scope and saw a preening hawk with a dark belly and the distinctive white at the base of the tail. I put the bird in my scope (ain't official until it's in my scope) and managed a decent digiscope. Great, a really good-looking hard-to-find bird on the list.  (That makes 2 for the month; yesterday the sharp eyes & identification skills of Jason D found a Parasitic Jaeger at IBSP on Scott's NJA trip). 

I then walked the fence line, looking for more hawks and what-not (the what-not turned out to be a couple of Eastern Meadowlarks, always a nice bird to see). A birder stopped and said that the bittern had been showing nicely a few minutes ago, so I quick-stepped it back there only to hear that it had slunk back into the reeds. Then I got a phone call from another birder who told me that he had just seen it--he drove up and said we were in the right place (but it was the wrong time). I hung out for a while, walked halfway around the pond, and the bittern still didn't come out. 

I went back to my car, scoped some more, saw the Rough-legged Hawk soaring over Rt 206, found a Merlin on the weather station tower, then drove back to the pond for a third try at the bittern. While I stood there I thought, "I've seen a couple of bitterns this year. I've seen bittern in Burlington County in the past. Is it going to make a difference in my life if I see an American Bittern in Burlington County this year? Did it make a difference in my life that last time I saw an American Bittern in Manahawkin? In Budd's Bogs?" When you start having these kinds of thoughts, the only thing to do is what I did next: get in the car and go.