Hawks

Seeing the Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world is always amazing. Our visit was made even more enthralling when we found two glorious eagles bathing in the pool of water on the lawns of the beautiful gardens.  

I had the opportunity to read Jerry Liguori's latest book - 'Hawks At A Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors' and I do think that it is a brilliant book and a must have for raptor lovers in North America,

Identifying birds in flight is always a challenge, especially birds like the raptors that fly at great heights. Migratory hawks are even more difficult to identify as the average enthusiast rarely gets the opportunity to study them closely for a long enough to learn their characteristics.

Liguori's latest book is a breakthrough in this regard. For each species Liguori presents many pictures showing them at different angles of flight. The text although concise focusses on describing the subtle variations necessary to help identify the species, sex and even the age group of the birds soaring miles above. There is also a complete section at the end that covers the silhouettes formed by the different species of raptors from a variety of angles and at different heights.

This book is an incredible resource for birders who are keen about migratory hawks as well the generalist birdwatcher who donned with a pair of binoculars spots a hawk in flight. Even occasional casual birders will enjoy hawk spotting with their families with the aid of this book which is destined to become a classic for many years to come.

Reader Claire Muskus sent us these gorgeous pictures of baby red-talied hawks.  The chicks look so cute: here is Claire's story:

 "We have a pair of red-tailed hawks that nest each year on our 5^th floor ledge.  Usually mid-March, the mom starts her annual ‘house cleaning’ then commences to ‘just sit’.  This year there were 3 eggs; all survived. Last year the same number  were in the nest, but only two survived.  Several years ago, one of the ‘youngins’ fell out of a tree that was near the bldg. Because its wings weren’t strong enough to make it fly back up to the nest, it wandered back and forth on the wall with its mother was dutifully watching and calling to it from across the street and often making low sweeps over it.  Some agricultural students from Trinity College were called in to try to capture it, which they were able to, somehow.  I had the good fortune of actually seeing the hawk ‘up close and personal’.  It certainly was a magnificent, yet scary example of power. I couldn’t believe the length of its talons – to gaze into its eyes was unnerving at best; it was if it could look through to your soul and beyond.  ‘Determination’ was the name of the game because somehow the bird escaped again, this time crossing the road and found its way into the bushes at the Bushnell; the DEP (Dept. of Environmental Protection) was contacted.  They found the bird, put a large towel over its head, brought it into the building, up the elevator (wished I’d been on that ride up – can you ever imagine getting on and seeing this ‘thing’ sitting on someone’s arm covered with a towel???) to the 5^th floor, opened a casement window and put it back on the ledge where it was supposed to be. "