Comments on: How To Identify Hawks at a Distance (and a recommendation on binoculars)

By: Inky

Inky — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 20:07:41 +0000

I like the Sibley Field Guide to Birds, which has pretty good illustrations of hawks in flight and perched positions, but I’m definitely getting this book, too.

By: Jonah Saltas

Jonah Saltas — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 03:37:33 +0000

I agree with Mark K and Greg, Hawks From Every Angle is awesome. It does say in the book that it covers common migrants that occur throughout the US, so Pete is a mistaken about his comments. Regardless, I just got my copy of Hawks at a Distance today and it is incredible. It is geared towards migrants but does cover more species this time. Looking at it right now, all the kites are there, carracara, Short-tailed, White-tailed, Zone-tailed, Condor. I like the fact that Liguori takes a migrant angle, it helps to identify them as they are really seen like the book says. You really have to take the book at its face value and absorb what it is about. There are plenty of field guides that cover all the species plumages.

Pete, sounds like it is personal between you and Liguori. That’s too bad, I got to watch hawks with him at the Goshute Mountains in Nevada in 2002 and he was very kind to talk identification all weekend. Amazing skills if you haven’t had the chance. I wouldn’t judge his new book based on his last…they are both very helpful on the hawks they do cover and Pete Dunne and others counts him as the best there is, so I am just happy someone like that is willing to share their knowledge for the rest of us. Pete’s comments are valid, but you can look at it this way, all the birds in the book can be seen in Arizona so it is still helpful to people in Arizona. You’d be missing out by not having them.

J Saltas

By: rturpin

rturpin — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:47:40 +0000

The neat thing about kettles is that they have a very different group dynamic from flocks. Thousands of martins migrating behave as a flock, moving together, landing on the same trees together, the individuals purposely wanting to be adjacent and that forcing them to move as a group. A kettle is a far more haphazard kind of thing. Raptors rarely associate in more than pairs or threes. And, in fact, you can see those couples and threesomes in the kettle. What makes the kettle is the thermal. Some of the hawks first notice it and start spiraling up it. The others, noticing the first few, then go and use the same thermal. The birds enter low and leave high. They aren’t coordinating with each other, except to use the same thermal and not collide. Birds will enter from different directions, and leave at different times and altitudes. As far as I know, it’s the only circumstance where you will see thousands of raptors all in one spot.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:13:15 +0000

Mark, a “Kettle” is a flock of birds wheeling about in one area (as opposed to a V or some other formation, going in one direction). Often they are multi species and they are often raptors but lots of other birds form kettles (polygynous, storks, etc) Migrating hawks will form kettles that will in turn move in the migratory direction, but kettles need not be associated with migration (they are more often associated with feeding, probably, if you don’t care how small the kettles are)

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:55:15 +0000

What is a kettle?

By: rturpin

rturpin — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 22:50:02 +0000

…it is aimed at those hawk watching sites along the migration pathways, which in North America are primarily the northeast.

I suspect south Texas rivals any migratory point in the northeast. During migration, we routinely get kettles numbering in the thousands. And silhouette is the only way to identify them. I’m always amazed at the hawkwatchers who can look at a kettle for a few minutes and report back “X% sharp-shinned, Y% broadwing, three kites, and two confused cranes.”

By: Sea Dubb

Sea Dubb — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:20:26 +0000

Neat. I’ve actually seen a hawk perched on fence post and a bald eagle gnawing at something dead on a highway median, but when they’re in flight it’s hard for myopic me to tell them apart from the ubiquitous turkey vultures near my office, except when the hawks give an iconic screech while swooping.

I wonder who ate the skinks I hardly ever see anymore.

By: zoologirl

zoologirl — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:33:26 +0000

Ooh. Looks perfect for visiting Hawk Ridge in Duluth.

By: Dave Rohde

Dave Rohde — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:36:29 +0000

Terrific article and book; plan to purchase SOON! I live 1 mile off the E. coast of L. Michigan-MANY raptors and this will indeed be a great help! Well done sir!

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:46:58 +0000

The book is not that clear on what it covers, though there are raptors from both coasts. There are abougt 50 species of raptor in North America and this book covers 29.