We recently thought back on our first raptor hike – a free LandPaths event led by raptor expert “Duck Dave” Barry. He spoke about the migrating birds of prey overhead while we hiked up Pomo Canyon Trail over to Poff Ranch. Right away, he looked up at a speck in the sky and said, “Ooh, OK everybody, we have a Ferruginous Hawk!” As we unsuccessfully tried to affix our hand-me-down binoculars on the distant bird, we marveled at how he even saw the hawk, much less how he knew the species. The bird was so far out that neither colors nor markings were visible – it was simply a small, dark silhouette in the cloudy sky.
Hawkwatch pros like Duck Dave often perform this apparent magic trick on tiny dots in the sky. However, this is far from magic – these experts regularly use shape and flight style to nail an ID, not just relying on field marks (such as tail color, belly bands, or patagial and mustachial marks).
It takes repetition in the field, but closely observing a bird’s flight style and shapes builds a more complete impression of any bird. Gaining this increased level of familiarity gives you a better chance to ID a flying bird without requiring close looks or decent lighting. We try to fight the impulse to look away once we’ve identified a bird and instead focus on following flying birds until they’re out of sight.
An interesting study in raptor shapes is the difference between adult and juvenile Red-tailed Hawks. We created the four silhouettes of Red-tailed Hawks below. Can you tell which are the adults and which are the juveniles?
When not in silhouette, a straightforward way to distinguish a juvenile RTHA from an adult is to home in on the tail. If it’s brick-red, then it’s an adult. If the tail is brown with dark, thin bands, then it’s a juvenile.
However, in poor lighting when tail color and pattern aren’t apparent, a difference in shape still exists to distinguish the two. Juvenile RTHAs have both a longer tail and thinner wings, creating a much longer and lankier silhouette. Adults have long, but very broad wings with slightly longer secondary flight feathers. This creates a bulging, muscular look where the wings meet the body. These bulging secondaries can appear to swallow up the base of the tail, making it look even shorter.
Answers below . . .
Below are the actual photographs of the four silhouettes. Numbers 1 and 4 are adults, while numbers 2 and 3 are juveniles.
Super helpful! After reading the tips, I was able to accurately ID before seeing the answer.
Thanks! Love your website. We’re visiting the Russian River and was wondering about the birds we’re seeing and hearing!