Finally, if you can place a distant bird into one of the broad categories (buteo, accipiter, or falcon), you are usually looking at only two or three viable possibilities. There is no location in North America where an observer has to consider 36 possible species. But don’t get cocky. Habitat is a very useful aid to hawk identification when birds are on territory, though not of much use during migration. Unlike most other bird identifications, plumage takes a back seat to other field marks in the hawkwatching arena, but it is still an important aid to species identification — particularly at close quarters. For example: the crescent windows at the tip of a Red-shouldered Hawk’s wings; the clean underparts on an immature Cooper’s Hawk. In time your reach will extend to exploring the exciting horizon that lies at the limit of human conjecture — hawkwatching’s frontier. The very fine Bausch and Lomb Elite 8×42 should excel in the hawkwatching arena, though many veterans will scoff at the thought of using any power less than 10. If you are seriously interested in learning how to identify hawks, there is nothing that will win favor more quickly among hawkwatchers. — Pete Dunne. Visiting migration or winter sites with daily concentrations of raptors, and often multiple species visible at one time, is an ideal situation for accelerated learning. But beginners can avoid a lot of unnecessary frustration by doing a few simple things and getting properly oriented to a whole new birdwatching arena. There is a wealth of information available, much of it compiled in books I’ve already mentioned. They are worse than useless. It is the basic nuances that are most helpful in recognizing birds in flight, with the minute details being of lesser importance. I can’t even find this bird, and he can see its genitals.”. But, you say, you are a beginner. Red-shouldered Hawks are medium-sized, with broad, rounded wings and medium-length tails that they fan out when soaring. Pete Dunne is the author of over a dozen books about birds and birding and the founder of the World Series of Birding. In 2001, in recognition of a lifetime of achievements in promoting the cause of birding, he received the Roger Tory Peterson Award from the American Birding Association. Your source for becoming a better birder. On the ridges, Red-shouldered Hawks are often seen flying on the lee, or wind-sheltered, side of the ridge while the bulk of the flight concentrates on the windward side of the ridge. At first, it seems difficult to tell one hawk from another, but with practice the nuances of identification become clearer and easier to recognize. In the East, Sharp-shinned Hawks usually far outnumber Cooper’s Hawks — from 10 to 20 Sharpies for every Cooper’s. Rough-legged Hawks can be identified by their feathered legs. The long tail often appears slightly rounded at the tip. It is challenging, and this is precisely why hawkwatchers love it so much — it never gets dull. Used with discretion, the relative abundance of hawks can be used as a first step to identification. The choppy, hurry-up-and-wait wing beat of a Black Vulture easily distinguishes it from a Turkey Vulture or an eagle. Merlins are highly aggressive toward other raptors. Let’s say it is November. Between them they traded a single pair of bargain-basement binoculars. Rare Cretaceous-age fossil ‘a great opportunity to reconsider ideas around head and beak evolution in the lineage leading to modern birds.’. In flight, they often glide or soar with their wingtips pushed slightly forward, imparting a distinctive, “reaching” posture. On the periphery old-timers and newcomers chatted amicably and now and again made desultory scans of the horizon. Sitting directly in front of me was a middle-aged couple, beginning hawkwatchers by all signs but serious beginners nonetheless. Eagles, at a distance, appear to do everything in slow motion. Pete Dunne’s account of the founding of the Cape May Hawkwatch, An article by Pete Dunne about autumn birding in Cape May, Sign up for our free e-newsletter to receive news, photos of birds, attracting and ID tips, descriptions of birding hotspots, and more delivered to your inbox every other week. JUser: :_load: Unable to load user with ID: 959. Why? Each species exhibits idiosyncratic behavior that can be used as an aid to identification. Understanding which traits are most reliable to key in on in the field can be as helpful as learning the actual traits themselves (see species pages below). The field characters used to identify birds are visible at tremendous distances. The bird was a Harrier because nothing else fit. Falcons prefer open areas; accipiters are adept at maneuvering in woodland. The dihedral seemed too pronounced for the bird to be a Red-tailed Hawk, particularly given the conditions. © Larry Arbanas | Macaulay Library Arizona, May 05, 2006. ID Fact Sheets created by Jerry Liguori. They simply know they can’t see what everyone else is seeing. I decided to stick my neck out and put a name to the distant shimmering phantom. Some people think of raptors as bloodthirsty hunters, but they are beautifully plumaged, graceful aerialists, and ultimate survivalists that only hunt out of necessity. This is probably the most useful long-range weapon in the hawkwatcher’s arsenal — but the most subjective and the hardest to convey to a beginner. Large soaring raptors, the vultures, osprey, eagles, and buteos, are birds with long, broad, plank-like wings and short, broad tails. Ask what that distant puzzling bird is and then ask why. And, when you purchase from HawkWatch, you are supporting our conservation and education programs! They are frequently seen soaring for lengthy periods without beating a wing. Many of the established hawkwatch sites also have literature on hand that presents a seasonal picture of the flight there. The lazy, loping wingbeats of a Harrier are diagnostic. Owl caught in Rockefeller Center Christmas tree flies free. Don’t use it as a prop. Red-tails often flatten their wings when winds are light. Hawkwatching is a highly social form of birding. Because it is late in the migration, you can eliminate early migrants like Broad-winged Hawks and Ospreys from preliminary consideration. There are a number of excellent and highly visible plumage-based field marks. The bird was a long way off, the kind of bird that only a hawkwatcher could appreciate. Raptor identification is very much concerned with shape because at a distance the overall shape of a bird is easier to see than individual parts (like a wing or the tail). Even at the limit of conjecture, these species appear dark. Step one: Get rid of extraneous cards in the deck. The distance from which most raptors are seen requires field identifiers that are reliably visible at that distance. Identify Raptors in Flight 1. His column “Birder at Large” appears in every issue of BirdWatching. Since you are away from the coast, you can give secondary consideration to birds like Peregrine Falcons and Merlins — birds that are relatively uncommon inland and are mid-season, not late season, migrants. The term "raptor" is generally used to describe a bird of prey. The woodland raptors — forest kites and accipiters — have shorter, broader, rounder wings and long, narrow tails, which allow great maneuverability in dense woods. That narrowed the possibilities some.

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