Birds of Prey Are So Cool

Birds, flowers, trees, and geology observation at 70 miles per hour is difficult and books are not designed for quick identification. Birds, flowers, trees, and geology at a snail’s pace is easier but multiple books are not designed for trail use and a water-loaded backpack. So, what’s a curious hiker/traveler to do? Waterford Press has a series of brochures, Pocket Naturalist, that provides quick identification of common birds, flowers, trees, and geology.

Birds of Prey: An Introduction to Familiar North American Species offers a solid look at Vultures, Condors, Eagles, Kites, Harriers, Osprey, Falcons, Hawks and Owls. This fold out, 12 panel, full-color laminated publication fits neatly into a pocket. This is 3 ½ inches by 8 ¼ inches when folded, and when open it’s 8 ¼ inches by 22 inches. The illustrations are so well done they appear, at first, to be photographs.

Have you noticed that while driving down the highway, especially in winter, dozens of hawks stand guard on power line poles--they are pole sitters and rabbit watchers. You see them in profile long before you actually face the indifferent hawk. You might see them in flight, but if lucky you watch them drop down and catch a small rodent.

This brochure shows 15 different hawks, both in flight and perched. It’s easy to distinguish between each: Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper’s Hawk, Northern Goshawk, Common Black-Hawk, Harris’s Hawk, Ferruginous Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Gray Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Zone-tailed Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Swainson’s Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, and Short-tailed Hawk. Each image also has the scientific name, size from bill to tail tip (inches/cm), and field markings. Some images are the adult in breeding color while some are the juvenile. Comparing hawks, or any of the other birds of prey becomes easy--convenient when you have a limited amount of time for identification.

The back flap has silhouettes of bird in flight, both gliding and soaring, as well as perched. The gyrfalcon shows the white morph, dark morph, and gray morph.

For a small publication, this is quite impressive. No, it doesn’t provide details, nor does it always provide range (that could be helpful), but it does make quick identification easy. You can note that this is either what you saw in the field or you think you saw from the car window, then later read more about the bird (or similar birds).

I’m fascinated by birds of prey, especially since they are top predators. I jump all over the car when we see hawks on power line poles in the winter. I’ll completely stop dead in my tracks when an owl hoots in my direction. Of the 15 hawks in this brochure I’ve only observed a few but there is hope. We’re moving to the winter migratory destination of many hawks. This booklet might replace the books in my car (might) and ride in the glove compartment or the drawer under the front seat. One of the panels shows a map of regional flyways and hotspots that includes the Pacific Continental Flyway, Western Continental Flyway, Central Continental Flyway, Eastern Continental Flyway, and Gulf Continental Flyway. James Kavanagh describes the barriers and illustrator Raymond Leung made the colors and markings quite recognizable.

Pocket Naturalist is a series of publications, each with similar formats, covering national, regional and eco-guides. The national guides (like this) are generalized; regional guides cover places like the Great Lakes, Yellowstone, or Maine while eco-guides focus on international locations. Topics are diverse and cover Bugs and Slugs, Arizona Birds, Alaska Wildlife, The Night Sky, Geology, and Michigan Trees and Wildflowers. There may actually be more than 300 publications in this series. These are easy to use with simple, effective formats and they will endure the abuse of road trips, back packing, and rainstorms or coastal water spray.

James Kavanagh and Waterford Press introduce us amateur naturalists to the amazing world that surrounds us through these Pocket Naturalist guides. I wish this had been my idea because it’s certainly popular and well executed.