A Field Guide to Hawks of North America

by Brian K. Wheeler (Illustrator), Roger Tory Peterson (Editor), William S. Clark, Brian K. Wheeler

Overview

This guide includes all 39 species of North American hawks and other diurnal raptors, including eagles, falcons, and vultures. Color paintings and photographs show each species in various color morphs and plumages, which are aso described in detail.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780395670675
Publisher:	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication date:	11/28/2001
Series:	Peterson Field Guides Series
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	438,827
Product dimensions:	4.50(w) x 7.25(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Roger Tory Peterson, one of the world's greatest naturalists, received every major award for ornithology, natural science, and conservation as well as numerous honorary degrees, medals, and citations, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Peterson Identification System has been called the greatest invention since binoculars. These editions include updated material by Michael O'Brien, Paul Lehman, Bill Thompson III, Michael DiGiorgio, Larry Rosche, and Jeffrey A. Gordon.

Read an Excerpt

NORTHERN GOSHAWK Pl. 13 Accipiter gentilis

Description The Northern Goshawk, our largest accipiter, is a breeding resident in northern and western mountain forests. Wings are long for an accipiter, rather buteo-like. Tip of folded tail is wedge-shaped. Sexes are almost alike in plumage, with females separably larger than males. Juvenile plumage is different from that of adults. Cere is greenish yellow to yellow. Legs are yellow. On perched birds, wingtips extend halfway to tail tip. Widespread race atricapillus is described below.

ADULT: Head is black except for wide white superciliary lines and whitish throat. Eye color varies from orange to red to mahogany, darkening with age. Back and upperwing coverts are blue-gray and average darker on females; they contrast with blackish uppersides of flight feathers. Underwing coverts and underparts are pale blue-gray with fine black vermiculations and some vertical black streaking. Females usually have coarser, darker barring and more vertical black streaking. Primaries show dusky banding on undersides; secondaries show, at most, faint banding. Tail is blue-gray, with three or four incomplete blackish bands. Undertail coverts are white and fluffy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments v

List of Plates ix

Introduction 1 How to Use This Book 10 List of Terms 12 PLATES 17

SPECIES ACCOUNTS 99 New World Vultures: Cathartidae 101 Black Vulture 102 Turkey Vulture 105 California Condor 109 Ospreys: Pandioninae 113 Osprey 113 Kites: Accipitridae 119 Hook-billed Kite 119 Swallow-tailed Kite 123 White-tailed Kite 127 Snail Kite 131 Mississippi Kite 135 Sea and Fishing Eagles: Haliaeetus 141 Bald Eagle 141 Harriers: Circus 149 Northern Harrier 149 Accipiters: Accipiter 155 Sharp-shinned Hawk 156 Cooper’s Hawk 160 Northern Goshawk 165 Buteonines: Accipitridae 170 Common Black-Hawk 170 Harris’s Hawk 175 Gray Hawk 178 Red-shouldered Hawk 182 Broad-winged Hawk 189 Short-tailed Hawk 193 Swainson’s Hawk 198 White-tailed Hawk 205 Zone-tailed Hawk 210 Red-tailed Hawk 213 Harlan’s Hawk 222 Ferruginous Hawk 227 Rough-legged Hawk 233 Booted Eagles: Aquila 241 Golden Eagle 241 Falcons: Falconidae 247 Crested Caracara 248 American Kestrel 252 Merlin 256 Aplomado Falcon 262 Gyrfalcon 265 Peregrine Falcon 270 Prairie Falcon 276 Vagrants: Accipitridae and Falconidae 281 Eurasian Honey Buzzard 281 Black Kite 284 Egyptian Vulture 286 White-tailed Eagle 288 Steller’s Sea Eagle 291 Marsh Harrier 294 Crane Hawk 295 Roadside Hawk 297 Booted Eagle 300 Collared Forest-Falcon 302 Common Kestrel 304 Eurasian Hobby 308 References 313 Index 314

Editorial Reviews

"Everything you could ever want to know about diurnal raptors is included in this handy-to-carry guide." - Home New Tribune

From the Publisher