Hawks at a Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors

On first shake, the identification of North American birds of prey (hawks, eagles, accipiters and falcons) might not look like too much of a challenge. If you toss in Black and Turkey Vultures which look and migrate in a similar fashion to true hawks, there are only twenty widespread species across the continent, with a handful of less common species restricted to the southern borderland, the tip of Florida or specialized areas such as coastal California and the Grand Canyon. Moreover, some species are highly distinctive, Swallow-tailed Kite being an obvious example.

However, as with many bird groups, things become more complicated the closer you look. One soon discovers that extremely familiar species such as Red-tailed Hawk comprise five discrete populations (Eastern, Western, Harlan's, Fuertes, and Florida), and there is considerable individual variation within each of these populations. Some common species can be darn hard, Cooper's Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk are familiar to every North American birder but are notoriously difficult to identify reliably (and I stress reliably). So 'hawks' represent a deep well for the identification enthusiast and there is a thriving market for innovative texts on field identification.

In 2005, Jerry Liguori published a slim but very informative book called "Hawks from Every Angle: How to identify raptors in flight". This was designed for the enthusiasts who gather at hawk migration sites in the spring and fall to watch passing birds. The new book "Hawks at a distance" is similar in design and content but raises the bar a notch by focusing on identification of the 'core species' when viewed from a greater distance, thereby mimicking the more typical experience of a hawk watch. One of the mantras of skilled bird identification is knowing the common species as well as possible. This is achieved through hours of deliberate study and continuous practice. Expert birders spend just as much time looking carefully at common birds as they do looking at uncommon ones, something that beginning birders often forget.

"Hawks at a distance" considers 28 species, chosen on their likely occurrence at migration watch points across the Continent. Northern Hawk-Owl, Barn Owl, Short-eared Owl and Common Raven are thrown in for good measure because they are occasionally mistaken for accipiters, falcons or small buteos. Each species treatment begins with a beautiful full page 'portrait' photo (no brainer identifications) and then moves to the world of pepper dots on a blue sky. The text describes the species from the perspective of a distant view, discussing shape, the way the wings are held in a glide, wing beat cadence and so on. This is followed by sets of six image of birds in flight and arranged by age or sex. A paragraph length legend explains the take home messages evident in the pictures. One minor criticism is that the locations and dates are not given for any of the photographs. I can't help thinking how much more accessible this information would be in the form of video. Either to walk us through the points or to actually show the different flight styles or the way soaring birds rock from side to side. Style of movement is an important aspect to identification that is difficult to communicate and is absorbed by real world experience.

At the rear of the book we find an extensive collection of gray scale images showing multiple views (46 or so) of each species in near silhouette. These remind me of the outlines of small Eurasian eagles that I traced from books as a kid, hoping to one day see these species for real at an exotic watch point or mountain range in the Mediterranean or Asia Minor. I stuck the tracings to the ceiling above my bed hoping to soak the slight differences in shape every time I opened my eyes. Liguori's montages are a very useful reminder of the visual challenges that North American birds of prey pose. Remember what I said about Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks? Just looking at the panels of these two species arranged on opposing pages (172-173) sends a shiver down my spine. The eye eventually notices the differences but they are subtle, not evident at every angle and difficult to capture in words. I'd be interested to know if these montages show many different individuals or are generated from runs of shots taken in sequence. Regardless, an aspiring hawkwatcher would do well to spend some time in the pre-season carefully working over these powerful images to get their eye in.

The book begins with a quirky but thoughtful forward by Pete Dunne who considers the progress in North American field guides from the stand point of viewing and identifying birds from ever increasing distances. It is probably intuitive to most birders that shape and posture become increasingly important as birds get further but Dunne makes the valuable point that plumage details also transform, spots becoming lines, streaking becoming dark patches and so on. This is something that David Sibley incorporated into his field guide paintings.

We are certain moving into a new phase of North American birding, with greater emphasis on understanding and applying gestault identification criteria rather than relying on details that can only be seen at close range. There are plenty of other bird groups that could do with a similar treatment, waterfowl being an obvious example. More of this when I discuss 'The Crossley ID Guide' in a future posting.

'Hawks at a distance' is a neat little book and valuable reference.

Title: Hawks at a Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors
Author: Jerry Liguori
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication date: 2011
Dimensions: 216 pp., 6 x 8 1/2 inches
Artwork: 558 color photos, 896 halftone photos, 2 tables.
List Price: US$19.95 (paper)
ISBN13: 978-0-691-13559-5

Helping the people of Haiti through birds

The authors of The Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti (2006 Princeton University Press) have collaborated with Green Mountain Digital to create an iPhone app that combines artwork from the field guide and recordings from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Macaulay Library. Some 58 species are featured.

The Birds of Haiti and the Dominican Republic app costs US$9.99 and is available from the iTunes Store. Importantly, all proceeds from sales will be donated to Habitat for Humanity and Partners in Health to support the continued disaster relief efforts in Haiti.

Birds of Europe: Second Edition

The wait is over! The much anticipated and much delayed 2nd edition of the Birds of Europe is finally out. Known to many as the 'Collins Bird Guide' but published in North America by Princeton University Press as the more fitting 'Birds of Europe', this is handy-sized book sets the bar for field guides, both in terms of the superb illustrations and phenomenal amount of information packed within its covers.

When rumors of a new edition first began to circulate, I naively assumed that it would amount to little more than a reprinting with some minor corrections to the maps and so forth. After all, how could such a superlative guide be improved? Glancing through the new edition the changes aren't immediately obvious but there are changes, many changes.

The first edition was published in 1999 after a difficult, decade-long gestation but was immediately and justifiably heralded as one of the most impressive bird books ever produced. Since then it has been published in no less than 13 languages and sold more than 700,000 copies - a 'Da Vinci Code' in bird book terms. So why the new edition? As Killian Mullarney explained in a perspective published in the March 2010 issue of Birdwatch magazine, "Gratifying as it was to receive such a positive reaction, as one of the authors I was acutely aware of where many weaknesses lay and the huge potential for making it better....now that people were actually using the book in the field, the list of things in need of attention grew longer and longer". Almost by definition guide books are works in progress and should evolve and I am no fan of the reissues of the Peterson Field Guides for this very reason.

So what cries out for updating in the Birds of Europe? Naturally some of the plates needed improving but according to Mullarney, the main impetus was to keep pace with (a) changing taxonomy, (b) improved understanding of some ID challenges and (c) the fact that some vagrants have become sufficiently regular in Europe that they now deserve fuller treatment. Case in point, Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans), which is now much better understood in terms of its field identification and as a consequence appears to range much more widely and more regularly across western Europe than was realized. The new plate which shows 13 versions of the bird is a gem.

As Mullarney recounts, a number of the original taxonomic decisions were not universally accepted and this will be the case with the 2nd edition. Some of the 'upgrades' from subspecies to full species will come as no surprise. Madeiran Firecrest (Regulus madeirensis) for instance gets the promotion, as does Taiga Flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla). Indeed, more than 30 taxa are elevated to full species. Although many were well differentiated subspecies in the first edition and received fairly decent treatments, other new species are less well known. I'd never heard to Maghreb's Wheatear (Oenanthe halophila) but quickly discovered that it was formerly lumped with Mourning Wheatear (O. lugens), a handsome 'pied' wheatear resident in the barren mountainous of North Africa.

For the most part, the new plates are as good as, if not superior to, the original artwork. I have always felt that Mullarney and Zetterstrom have very complementary styles that give the birds a natural but crisp look and accurately portray the shapes and postures. One significant criticism is that many of the new plates are not well integrated into the existing structure. For example, Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis) is separated by 14 pages from Greater Scaup (A. marila), the only species you'd really need to compare it to. Depictions of Common/Black Scoters (Melanitta nigra/americana) and Velvet/White-winged Scoters (M. fusca/deglandi) are similarly partitioned. As Mullarney explains in the Birdwatch article, this unfortunate arrangement came about because of limited communication and cooperation between the authors/illustrators (a candid admission) and other production issues. I'm sure nobody associated with the project is happy with the outcome but the flaw is not fatal and certainly better than no 2nd edition at all.

As a birder, I prefer to see birds set against their natural habitats and have a weak spot for the artful vignettes included in many of the plates. The new paintings of Laurel Pigeon (Columba junoniae), an endemic to the montane forests of several of the Canary Islands is particularly successful in this regard and the original Caucasian and Caspian Snowcocks set majestically on snowy mountain ridges are still as good as ever.

To sum up: I strongly recommend this guide to anyone with more than a passing interest in birds. Even if you don't have plans to bird in the area of coverage (Europe, North Africa or the Middle East), the guide has much to offer. North American birders will find plenty of familiar species as well as valuable information on regular vagrants. I also recommend the guide to all as an example of what a field guide should be like.

Now we begin the wait for the release of the large format edition!

Title: Birds of Europe: Second Edition
Text and Maps by Lars Svensson
Illustrations and Captions by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterström
Publication date: 2010
North American Publisher: Princeton University Press
Dimensions: 416 pages, 5 x 7, 3,500+ color illus., 848 maps
Retail Price: US$29.95

The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State

"Thump!" That was the sound made by the new 'Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State' when it arrived in the post this morning. Edited by Kevin McGowan and Kimberley Corwin, the book summarizes the findings of the second installment of the New York State Breeding Bird Atlas Project that began in 2000. The first iteration, "The Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State" edited by Robert F. Andrle and Janet R. Carroll, was published in 1988 and summarized field work conducted between 1980 and 1985.

At 696 pages, the book is much heftier and more solidly produced than I was expecting. The cover has a gorgeous painting of a Merlin by artist John Perry Baumlin. The 2nd Atlas project coordinate by a steering committee chaired by Valerie Freer, marshalled more than a thousand volunteers who conducted summer-time surveys in more than five thousand 'atlas blocks' that covered most of the state. Each breeding or likely-breeding species - 244 species in all - has a map summarizing the data from the 2nd atlas project (2000-2005) and a often a second map documenting the perceived changes in the new data compared to the 1st project (1980-1985). The editors and a team of regional experts have written essays discussing the status of each species. Additional chapters describe the methodology, overall results, habitats, land use, conservation, history of New York birding and ornithology. Appendixes cover the rare breeders as well as an updated table of the seasonal timing of breeding.

Details
Title: The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State
Authors: Kevin J. McGowan and Kimberly Corwin
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Publicaton Date: December 2008
696 pages, 8 1/2 x 11, Full color throughout: 25 paintings, 245 halftones, 258 tables, 164 charts/graphs, 512 maps.
ISBN: 9780801447167
Retail Price: US$59.95

Rare Birds Yearbook 2009 - News hot from the conservation frontline

The second volume of this innovative and 'must have' annual publication has just been released. The brainchild of Erik Hirschfeld, £4 of each book sold goes to bird conservation.

To order your copy, visit the Rare Birds Yearbook web site.

The meat of the book is an overview of the current status of the 190 bird species rated as 'Critically Endangered'. There are 130 new photographs and a collection of essays including a feature on the successful reintroduction programs for California Condor.

The fortunes of the World's rarest birds have been mixed to say the least. Click here for a summary of status changes. Eight species have been upgraded to 'Critically Endangered' on the IUCN Red List scale, one step below the dreaded 'Ex' ratings.
These are:
Tristan Albatross (Diomedea dabbenena)
Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus)
Tachira Antpitta (Grallaria chthonia)
Reunion Cuckooshrike Coracina newtoni)
Mariana Crow (Corvus kubaryi)
Floreana Mockingbird (Nesomimus trifasciatus)
Akekee (Loxops caeruleirostris)
Gough Bunting (Rowettia goughensis)

A glimmer of hope is the fact that 6 species have been downgraded from 'Critically Endangered':

Gorgeted Wood-quail (Odontophorus strophium) [now only 'Endangered']
Marquesan Imperial Pigeon (Ducula galeata) [now only 'Endangered']
Purple-backed Sunbeam (Aglaeactis aliciae) [now only 'Endangered']
Gurney’s Pitta (Pitta gurneyi) [now only 'Endangered']
Rondonia Bushbird (Clytoctantes atrogularis) [now only 'Vulnerable']
Somali Thrush (Turdus ludoviciae) [now only 'Vulnerable']

Details
Title: Rare Birds Yearbook 2009
Author: Erik Hirschfeld
Publisher: MagDig Media Ltd.
Publication date: 14 November 2008
Softcover, numerous color photographs & diagrams, 276pgs.
ISBN 978-0-9552607-5-9
Retail price: £18.95 (UK)
Contact: editor@rarebirdsyearbook.com
www.rarebirdsyearbook.com

Albatrosses (Australian Natural History Series)

This slim but eminently readable paperback by zoologist Terence Lindsey offers an excellent introduction to the beautiful but in many way utterly mysterious world of the albatrosses. There is thoughtful discussion of adaptations that allow albatrosses to thrive in the seemingly inhospitable Southern Ocean and the challenges that face researchers and conservationists. Lindsey discusses the fluctuating taxonomy - 13 species becoming 24 almost overnight - balancing the pros and cons of this deliberate move.

Lindsey is well-known in Australia for his numerous writings on natural history and the TV programs he has written/directed. His style is personable and on occasion, amusingly quirky. In reviewing the difficulties of studying albatross feeding habits Lindsey describes early study methods as follows: "All you need is a bucket, something to serve as a sorting tray and a can of cat food. You visit a chick on its nest, wait for the parent to return and feed it, upend the chick over the bucket and induce it to disgorge, feed it the contents of the can (to compensate for the lost meal), tip the bucket into the sorting tray, and start sifting through the mess trying to find something identifiable."

Although the book is aimed at the general reader rather than professional ornithologist, it is pleasing to see that almost 18 pages are given to a comprehensive list of source material, mainly articles in the primary research literature.

Other volumes in this extensive series on Australian wildlife include: Bowerbirds (Rowland), Wedge-tailed Eagle (Olson), Kookaburra (Legge), Tree-kangaroos (Martin), Gliders (Lindenmayer), Echidna (Augee), Great Whales (Bannister), Australian native mice and rats (Breed & Ford), Cockatoos (Cameron), Bettongs, Potoroos and the Musky rat-kangaroo (Claridge), Kangaroos (Dawson), Platypus (Grant), Flying Foxes (Hall and Richards), Seasnakes (Heatwole), Mallee fowl, Brush turkeys and Scrubfowl (Jones & Goth), Australian Magpie (Kaplan), Tawny Frogmouth (Kaplan) and more.

Details
Title: Albatrosses (Australian Natural History Series)
Author: Terence Lindsey
Publication Date: June 2008
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, Australia.
ISBN-13: 9780643094215
Paperback, 139 pages, 24 x 17 cm, numerous color and black-and-white photographs, line diagrams.
Retail Price: AU $39.95

Albatross: Their world, their ways

Albatrosses take a hold of the imagination like few other birds. Superbly adapted to life on the open sea, they have been gliding effortlessly across the world's oceans for tens of thousands of years. Even after years of study and admiration, they remain mysterious inhabitants of a world that is distinctly alien to humans.

Unfortunately, the future is not looking too good for albatrosses in general. They are in trouble and not to mince words - humanity is primarily to blame. Nesting sites have been decimated by the feather trade, demands for airstrips and by the reckless introduction of predatory mammals. When cast ashore on Gough, a remote islet in the South Atlantic, a mammal as innocuous as the house mouse can become a monster that literally eats albatross chicks alive (click here for the gory details). At sea, albatrosses are drowned in their thousands by baited lures used to capture fish for our dinner tables or starve to death because their stomachs are packed full of cigarette lighters and other plastic debris carelessly tossed from ships or washed out to sea by rivers. It's ugly and it is serious but there is still hope.

The world is finally waking up to the scale and speed of the incipient calamity. Hundreds of researchers, conservationists, fishermen and plain everyday people are taking up the cause, modern-day 'Knights of the Albatross' if you will. Major conservation groups, backed by legions of supporters, are putting pressure on governments to formulate and enforce laws that will put a stop the unconscionable slaughter, ingenious methods are being devised to continue profitable fishing practices without adding albatrosses and other seabirds to the daily catch and remote islands are being systematically cleared of introduced mammals or plants that threaten nesting seabirds. There can be a happy ending to the story but it will take work.

Albatrosses by Tui de Roy, Mark Jones and Julian Fitter (2008, Christopher Helm) celebrates the extraordinary lives of albatrosses and ponders their modern predicament. This volume is really three different books pressed between one set of covers. The first 'Spirits of the Oceans Wild' by photographer Tui De Roy is a travelogue, a first person account of her visits to the remote nesting grounds of several different albatross species. The second book, 'Science and Conservation' by Mark Jones is a collection of essays by scientists, conservationists and other important figures that explore the treats and solutions that albatrosses face in the human dominated world. The third book, 'Species Profiles' by Julian Fitter provides a short overview of each species, describing their range, population size and so on in a fairly conventional guide book format. The glue that holds these somewhat unevenly matched books together are the hundred or more photographs by Tui de Roy. Well known for her captivating images of the Galapagos, De Roy has spent months, if not years, visiting remote albatross colonies, predominantly in the Southern Ocean. These are formidable places and her accomplishment is all the more spectacular when you consider that De Roy and her partner Mark Jones sailed to each location aboard the Mahalia, their 43-foot cutter.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely blown away by some of the photographs. The portrait shots are often taken from a low angle with the brightly illuminated bird set against dark brooding clouds. Somehow these seem overly contrived to me. I appreciate the effort to capture the drama of these slightly alien and others may find the images inspiring. Perhaps seeing these photographs in a large format would change my views?

Regardless, I think the authors are let down by the uneven layout the book, especially in the latter sections. Many excellent photographs are reduced to a tiny size and yet float on an unnecssary sea of blank paper. Other photos extend right up to and perhaps beyond of the margins of the page. Some images are simply cropped too tightly, either awkwardly clipping the wing tips off flying birds or creating a very cramped feel to scenes that were anything but cramped. The labels that accompany the photos also suffer from poor design, printed in a weak gray font that gets even weaker on some pages and inexplicably becomes so tiny and so tightly pressed against edge of the photographs in other sections that they could easily be mistaken for essentially unreadable agency credits. BBC Wildlife magazine reproduced a selection of Tui de Roy's photographs in an article about the book and in a side by side comparison the magazine versions of the photos look much better in terms of color and sizing.

A more minor grumble is the choice of not using capitalization to indicate species names. Here 'Wandering albatross' refers to a cluster of species (or populations) and 'wandering albatross' to a single taxa. This is the antithesis of most bird literature which favors capitals to designate species names and I was amused to note that the illustrations in Rosemary Gales section does use the upper case in this way. Again I appreciate that this is probably a production issue and not something the authors necessarily had much control over.

The production shortfalls are an unfortunate digression from the important mission of the book, namely to bring the extraordinary lives and diversity of albatrosses to the forefront of public awareness and to make it clear to the world that these birds are in real trouble and that to large extent, it is our fault. Most of us can only stomach so much doom and gloom and several success stories such as the use of ingenious methods to minimize accidental by-catch or to cajole albatrosses into establishing new nesting colonies provide a welcome breath of fresh air. The phenomenal recovery of the Short-tailed Albatross population, due in large part to innovative work by Hiroshi Hasagawa and colleagues on Torishima, deserves more air play than it gets. Recovery of Short-tailed Albatrosses from the brink of extinction represents a brilliant beacon in the field of bird conservation and there are many lessons that can be adapted to helping other albatrosses and seabirds.

The book was conceived from a need to raise awareness of the continuing plight of albatrosses and the marine environment in general. Brief endoresement from Michael Rands (Birdlife International) and Cristina Mittermeier (International League of Conservation Photographers). His Royal Highness Prince Charles, an active supporter of BirdLife's Save the Albatross Campaign, contributed the foreward and the introduction is by Carl Safina, author of the Eye of the Albatross (2002 Henry Holt & Co.), and a leader in the movement to improve public awareness and conservation of the marine environment.

Details
Title: Albatross: Their world, their ways
Authors: Tui de Roy, Julian Fitter & Mark Jones
Publication Date: 20 Jun 2008
Publisher: Christopher Helm, A & C Black
ISBN-10: 0713688122
ISBN-13: 9780713688122
Hardback, 232 pages. 29.6 x 23.5 cm, 300 color photographs.
Retail Price: £35.00 (UK)