The Identification of Hawks may be relative to a number of factors. Such as, how close or far out they are, how much head wind or tail wind they are experiencing, and the angle of the sun for instance. Ex: The wind will effect how they hold their wings to remain aloft. Some of what we use to determine what we see is based upon silhouettes, or the illusion created by the silhouette of a bird. For example, the wide white tail band on the tip of a Cooper's Hawks tail, combined with the white at the rump of the bird creates the illusion that the bird is towing a ball if the tail feathers are flared. This will help in determining the difference between a Coopers and a Sharpie, which holds its tail with far less flare and has no visible white band, therefore seems longer and straighter than the Coopers. I don't have pictures of all the things we have learned to look for, but little by little I can attempt to share a few pointers.
- In the yellow circle above is a Black Vulture. One of the ways I can know that is because of the illusion that this bird has no tail. The short tail of the vulture is flared and at a distance, appears to be part of the wings.
- In the orange circle above, there is a Turkey Vulture. This bird as well as several others in this "kettle" have a slight V angle to the way they hold their wings. That upturned position of their wings, coupled with the fact that they wobble a lot in the wind, is classic for Turkey Vultures.
- In the green circle a white band is visible along the back edge of the wing, from underneath. Only a Turkey Vulture has this feature. Although it is not obvious in this picture, the outside tips of the Black Vulture have white patches. The illusion here in the yellow circle, is the shortening of the wings. They appear shorter than they actually are.
- Just to the right of the green circle is a bird which has its wings in a V. It is doing a gentle flap to direct it back into the thermaling air. How do I know which vulture it is? No white band along the back egde and WIDE wings all the way along the body. It looks butterfly-like. That would be a Black Vulture. The white along the Turkey Vulture's (TV) wings makes them look narrower, but even so, the Black Vulture (BV) has wider wings at the body. It can take a minute to determine which bird we are watching, but wobbling V's help us say pretty quickly when it's TV's.
- In this same scene, the bird which is to the most extreme lower left outside of the green circle, is black with flat wings. We would watch closely to be sure we didn't have an Eagle among the Vultures, which is entirely possible. The point to be made here, is that the keys we give you don't mean the birds are always permanently in the positions we give you to ID them by. But if you watch them for a bit, their characteristics usually show up. It doesn't mean a TV will never have a flat wing posture, or that a Bald Eagle will never have it's wings held in a V. But Eagles don't hang in the air and wobble. And Turkey Vultures don't fly for miles and never move a wing with their wings laid out flat.
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| Black Vulture- Virtually no head, Short tail, often spreads into the wings at a distance, White wing tips. Wide, deep black wings. |
A group of raptors is said to be in a "kettle" or is "kettling" when they have grouped into a rising column of air, or thermal that allows them to attain lift without much effort. Riding around and around inside the column of air until they reach a point where they are high enough to "peel off" and glide for as long as the wind currents will allow. When there are a number of birds circling in this manner, they appear to be moving about like veggies in a kettle of boiling water. In this constant state of movement, it is sometimes difficult to impossible to count accurately how many are flying about. If possible, waiting until they fly off the top of the thermal, can make counting simpler.
Early in the season, the hawks seen in such kettles are most often Broad-winged Hawks. Other species can be among them, however, so it is wise to check for singular birds of other species. Later, in late October/early November, kettles like the one above are most likely predominately Vultures. Broad-wings will be most likely all gone from our area.
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A recent photo, by Candy Haley, shows the wing outline, and the dark feathering the causes the bright white singe band look in flight on BW's. Alix Parks holds a rehabbed bird, as she and Jimmy discuss its features.
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| White under-wing will flash when the BW banks. At a distance, it can make a kettle of flashes, be an ID over a kettle of Vultures, even though Blacks have white outer wing tips. I have seen a whole kettle, with a large number of BW's look like glitter in a distant sky. |
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| When banking and soaring, the BW wings may not be pushed forward as much as when in it's ID posture. It's knife blade wing shape is clearly defined and emphasized by the black back wing line. And notice the tail...wide banding! In this case the white flash is along the body. This doubles the "flash" potential of this bird. I have known times when that body flash is what got my attention in blue sky. See the clear wings and body appearance. No marking stand out like on a Red-tail. There are darker markings on Adult BW's some to the extent to be called Dark Morphs. But no commas, petagials, etc. On an immature bird, however, the outer wing can display the see through window effect, exactly like an adult Red-shouldered Hawk. It is a wider, less defined window than on the RS. A glimmer of the light coming through can be seen below: |
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| Something we added to our repertoire of ways to ID BW's this year was the straight line that can be drawn along the back wing where it joins the body, especially when the wings are pushed forward. This feature alone will differentiate it from other hawks, especially other Buteos . |
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| When we draw double parallel lines along the wings, it is easy to see the forward pushed wings. |
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| Without forward pushed wings, or white flashes, or chocolate head, 2 things identify this as a BW. The broad tail bands, and the dark thick line the completely outlines the wing tips and trailing edge. IF the tail wasn't obvious, you could know this was a BW by the outline of the wings. |
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RED-TAILED HAWKS
One of the most handy ways of identifying Red-tails, often is the fact that they will "kite." This is a term meant to explain how they can hang in the wind without forward or backward movement. They also don't have to flap wings to do it. Some terns kite, but must move their wings. I have also seen Osprey and American Kestrels kite. But if a bird is way out, and you have Identified it as either a buteo or a vulture, when it kite's, all wondering is stopped. It's a Red-tail. Another non-raptor which kites, is a King-fisher.
Kiting is a hunting practice, so the bird can remain still from aloft, and view an area for movement. And Red-tails can drop out of that stance into a dive in an instant.
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| Golden Eagle - compare wings and heads. Flat board-like stance on how wings are held. But shape and width very different. And the head size is dramatically different. |
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| Compare how the head on this Bald Eagle extends past the wings to the head on the Golden Eagle above.. |
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| RED-SHOULDERED HAWK |
First notice the Commas of light that sweep around the wing tips. Sunlight filters through the feathers there and creates a window effect. Couple that with the dark body and especially the dark head and forewing with knuckes, and you have a sure fire silhouette for Red-shouldered. An immature BW will look amazingly similar, so what makes it different?
1. The windows of light in the wings are more defined, narrower and comma like than on a BW immature bird. Often much brighter as well, these windows stand out on a dark bird!
2. There are more noticeable bands on the tail, with narrow bands of white. Not always as noticeable as here, when the sunlight shines directly through them.
3. There is also a Checker-boarding pattern effect along the tailing wing. Not always noticeable even through Binocs.
4. But the spread of the tail which is fairly long in comparison to the wings, makes an illusion of a short body. This is a large hawk, so the compact look is deceiving in this posture. Partly due to the stockiness of that body, as well.
5. The head and shoulders of this bird are remarkably dark. In light, which shines on it's face and forewing, you could see the rusty redness of it. But this pic is a great example of how, when the sun is from directly above, or in early morning or late evening light, we see only the silhouette.
6. No white flash, no white rump flash. What really stands out are the those areas where the sun shines through.
7. The knuckles at the wrist. I really don't remember seeing that feature on a Red-shouldered whose wings are stretched out long and straight. But when drawn in a bit, they become very obvious, in most of my pictures.
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THE OSPREY
Osprey incorporate several of the features we have individually used to ID species from above. So how do you ID them separate from the others, you might ask? Well for one thing they use all the poses of several others. So if you see more than one pose that is generally associated with one Raptor, it's probably an Osprey. But they have one feature that is strictly prominent in their flight silhouette. It's an extreme M shape of the wings. Eagles sometimes have an M in their flight repertoire, as do non raptors, like gulls. But follow an Osprey flying in from the distance and that M is very different than the flat board general stance of an Eagle, and the constant flap of a gull or tern. Plus it's a loooooong winged bird. The following are the 4 major stances of an Osprey in flight? |
| Flight /Soaring M shaped Wing, very deep rounded top. |
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| The Wing Cadence of the Osprey includes a very high v-shaped Dihedral. This is part of it's search mode flight, when hunting. Different from the general m-shaped glide flight an Osprey might use when in migration, when it's conserving energy by catching wind and lift in the M shape. If the Osprey maintains this dihedral, it like the Red-tail Hawk it is hovering, or kiting looking for prey. Habitat plays a roll here. The Red-tail will be hovering over land, the Osprey over water. Both kite very well. Both display talons down and extended readiness. I will put up a kiting pick below these first 4. However, I have seen Osprey which totally fooled me, flying in with more dihedral than M shape. The major difference here is a Turkey Vulture keeps the dihedral, and the Osprey drops the wings often like a flap to maintain lift. |
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| Even when the very Wide narrow wings of the Osprey are out spread they remain in the slight M shape. One of its wings is 2 times the length of its body, head and tail! In fact, from the tip of the outer primary feathers, to the joint on the leading edge, is 1 times the body to tail tip length! Compare that for instance, to the Red-shouldered, whose Head/Body/Tail length is almost the same as it's wings. Remember, we are talking about Silhouettes, not exact body measurements. What is the visual impact of how the wings' length, width, mass, color, and stance give you a memory shape that is unique to the bird's identification. |
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| This drawn-in stance with the tail and head down, are soooo not a dead give-away for an Osprey, except that they don't hold this stance for long. It's part of the hunting flight, not the migration flight, unless the bird is in wind and attempting to gain height. Notice the spots where the light passes through the wings here. Not crescents near the outer wing like the Red-shouldered, or immature Broadie. And the light through the tail doesn't make the striking bands of many other hawks. It's more a checkered effect. The wing shape here mimics a Black Vulture, but no BV has such a long tail. |
>HAWKWATCH INTERNATIONAL -
Discussion on Dark Morph plumage:
http://hawkwatch.org/blog/item/764-dark-morph-splitting-hairs
Article on Merlins
http://hawkwatch.org/blog/item/756-merlin
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