do raptors make you crazy?

[mopinko]

i have so few hawks on my life list. they are just so tough to identify. they are usually far enough away to make it hard to judge their size, and their marking are so subtle. and they are such loners.
i have the usuals, redtail, bald eagle, kestrel, harrier, osprey.
but those small hawks, grrrrrr.

[amazona]

1. some suggestions

The Petersen Hawk guide by Bill Clark will be a big help. Clark and Wheeler photo guide to North American raptors is also good. General bird guides aren't enough to help you ID all hawks you see in the field.

Sometimes there is no substitute for hiring a raptor expert as a guide. If you are near a bird festival area, and a raptor expert is giving a talk or a walk, pay the freight and attend, it's worth it. Or if you are in a bird club, hang out and go on bird walks with the raptor guy.

Visit a hawk watch site in season. At times they will be too busy counting, but during lulls, they can share many useful ID tips with you.

That said, I can't ID those tiny dots in the sky either. Some of the raptor experts just plain have better eyesight than the rest of us. I was on a tour, and I remember that the guide pointed out a telephone pole waaay down the road with a little dot on it, and he called it as peregrine. We all looked at each other and thought, yeah, sure. However, when we drove up to the telephone pole, sure enough, he was right.

You and I can't make every call, but we can increase the number of times we make the right call.

On Edit-- I almost forgot. Carry a digital camera if you've got it. Even a very bad photo can sometimes be blown up on the computer to give you a good ID later.

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[mopinko]

2. i'm not a big gadget lover, but

i have the hots for one of those binocs with the built in camera. they seem to mostly be kinda cheesey right now, low power optics, and small size pic files. i admit i haven't really scoured the planet for a good pair, tho.
on my birthday wish list, tho, fershur.

[Freebird12004]

3. great answers - I go Hawk Watching in South Jersey

the trained Hawk watcher/counters have wonderful eyesight but they also use "flight patterns" to aide in correct identifications.

[mopinko]

4. do you go to cape may?

i have been dying to go there. we were thinking about going out that way this year for the family vacation, but i don't know. had such a good time in galena with the hubby last weekend, that i think we will go there. some good hawk watching out there. saw a few bald eagles. hoping to catch part of the spring migration.

[Freebird12004]

5. my first season at the point was awesome

I drove to Cape May 5 times that fall. B-)

[mopinko]

6. i'm itchin'

the only trouble will be to drive the point home to the rest of the family that bird-watching is a LEISURELY activity. you would think that they would have figured that out by now. but no. they think it's like a video game or something. .2 second to identify the bird, or it drops off the screen, 20 seconds with no birds, game over.
well, when we go i will remind them every hour all the way there. or i will just send them to the arcade, and go alone. (what usually happens.)

so what is it like? there is an education center there, right? (i've seen the t-shirts on other birders.) is it a tourist attraction? or a natural place that only crazy birders go?

[Freebird12004]

12. it's a little of both

There are trails that are marked and posted.

The Cape May Bird Observatory has done a lot for birders and the environment in South Jersey. CMBO gives regular lectures and there are guided tours.

Wildwood NJ is near by if you really need to bribe your family.

If you are staying in south Jersey - the room-rates at the point are off of the Richter scale ... your best bet is to drive a little and save a lot instead of staying in Cape May.

[mopinko]

14. we'd probably camp

and cover a good bit of the region while we were there.
i do usually get to take a day off from the family when we go somewhere, and it is usually to bird.
i'm thinking we are going to galena (il) this summer, tho. good birding there, too.

[Freebird12004]

16. There are plenty of campsites in Cape May

so have fun where ever you and the family go. B-)

[Fleurs du Mal]

7. Hawks in Flight

I highly recommend getting a copy of Hawks in Flight by Sutton, Dunne, and Sibley. This book will take your raptor identification skills to the next level. I picked this up about 14 years ago and periodically revisit it. You'll quickly become more adept at identifying all of those backlit raptors when the markings are completely indecipherable.

[semillama]

8. Good recommendation!

I'll try to remember that next time I am at the book store.

Speaking of hawks, saw a nice female Cooper's Hawk on my walk this afternoon, pissing off all the cardinals.

[mopinko]

9. thank you, will do.

do you like the sibley's? i feel disloyal to buy anything but a peterson's. i have acquired a couple, and they just never feel right.

[Fleurs du Mal]

10. For raptors...

I really like works Sibley is involved with, e.g. Hawks in Flight, The Windmasters. However, I like the description as much as the illustration with these. But for general identification I stick with Peterson as well. It's what I grew up with. It's been a long time since I compared guides though and I'm due for another soon.

[semillama]

11. I felt the same way at first

but now I can't stand Peterson's. having the range map on the same page as the image and description is fantastic. Plus I find the illustrations in RTP to be dull and sort of, well, blurry, compared to Sibley's art. Sibley has a great knack for capturing details on a bird that I haven't seen any other guide match. The information in Sibley is really good too. I swear by that guide now. I mean, RTP is still servicable, but if I see a bird I haven't seen before and need to ID it, i'll reach for Sibley over RTP any day of the week. I find sibley especially handy for raptors, actually, over the standard RTP field guide.

Give it a try as your primary guide for a month, then see if you still want to go back to RTP.

[Fleurs du Mal]

15. I'll definitely have to revisit my FG

and check out Sibley. Might as well since I like his other work so well. I've used Peterson mainly out of familiarity rather than conscious choice. Many hours spent marvelling at the silhouettes in the little green book when I was a kid. ;)

[amazona]

17. no general field guide is sufficient for raptors IMHO

While I like Sibley for a general guide, when it comes to the difficult specialties, I have to go back to the Petersen's specialty guide--Williamson on the hummingbirds and Clark for the raptors.

I need a good shorebird guide is my problem now.

A guide book writer once told me, "The range map is simply a work of fiction," and as I live in Louisiana, I find these to be words of wisdom. :-)

The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists
and other subversives. We intend to clean them out,
even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country.
--John Mitchell, US Attorney General 1969-72

[Freebird12004]

13. great book