An Eagle or Two.

08 November 2019

     It was Judy who suggested we should go and look for eagles. 

     Sounded like a fine idea to me, so I canvassed the members of our Tuesday group, and had but two other takers, Miriam and Franc. The others had prior commitments or simply did not wish to go.

     The period covering the first two weeks of November is the prime time for southward movements of Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). The winds have to be right, strong north-westerlies being ideal, and Friday's forecast seemed made to order. A consensus was reached; hawk watching we would go!

     Our destination was the aptly named Hawk Cliff, near the lakeside community of Port Stanley in Elgin County, hard by the upland contours of the land as it skirts along the north shore of Lake Erie. The conditions could not have been more perfect, both for migrating raptors and for human observers. At times hawk-watching can resemble nothing so much as an exercise in masochism, undertaken by people otherwise quite normal in their lives. Not so today. The sun shone, the temperature was a mere smidgen below zero, and the winds came as close to perfection as could be.

     Judy was the only one with an intimate knowledge of the area and she found a perfect clearing for us from which to scan the sky. A farmer had very obligingly cleared some of the corn from his field, and that which was left standing gave us a windbreak, and a clear view of the usual flight path of migrating raptors. 

       We set down our chairs and settled in to begin the vigil, warmly dressed, and with a thermos of hot coffee. Barely had our behinds nestled into the seat than Miriam said, "Two hawks coming in." And so began a non-stop movement that was as spectacular as any I have witnessed. Our chairs were not occupied again until lunch time!
     The sky was filled with birds; all the raptors we might hope to see. Additionally, hundreds of American Crows (Corvus brachyrynchos) were moving through and there was activity in every direction. Even when the passage of hawks and eagles slowed for a moment there was a constant stream of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) which did not abate all day.

    I have to tell you that Judy is a retired anesthesiologist; a profession requiring a calm head and a steady hand. That description bore faint resemblance to "Hawk Watch Judy," who was as giddy as a newly emerged mayfly in summer. "Look here, David," she said, and as I did she yelled, "Oh, look over there." As my eyes pivoted she screamed, "Golden Eagle coming in to the left" - and so on. It was that kind of day. It was hawk watching at its very best.
    Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) were the most numerous of the raptors, and we saw this polymorphic hawk in every plumage imaginable, and in every age class. We saw them high, we saw them low. At times they cruised above our head, and circled lazily: at other times they hurtled through as though they had a thermal to catch.

     Franc, fully expecting the birds to be higher, had taken a monopod and a larger lens than he normally would, and he felt he was hampered somewhat by his choice of equipment. Nevertheless, he achieved results for the record book, high quality images displaying the birds at their best. Ever modest, he demurs at the suggestion that we are mightily impressed with his results. I will let you be the judge.
     The holy grail of raptor watching in southern Ontario is without doubt  Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). Sometimes, even with dedicated effort, and freezing hands and feet, with face reddened from the biting wind, and several journeys to renowned locations, you can miss the migration entirely. Today we had five, possibly six individuals, since we were not quite sure whether one bird had doubled back on us.

     For those not familiar with the species, a Golden Eagle derives its name from its golden nape, clearly visible in the pictures above.
     We were all in awe. These birds cut through the winds like a hot knife through butter. They render you speechless with their strength and power. They are indeed royalty and we are but peasants in their presence.
     Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) is far more common than in times past, but it does not suffer at all from familiarity. It is an impressive bird by any measure, adult or juvenile.

     Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) is not a species I see frequently during the breeding season, some years not at all, so a cohort of them on migration is always a welcome opportunity.

     As far as I recall we saw but one Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius), and Franc managed to get a picture.

     There were small numbers of other raptors, including Merlin (Falco columbarius) and American Kestrel (Falco sparverius), but the main excitement is covered above.
     I wish to express my deep gratitude to Franc for downloading and editing his pictures so quickly. He set aside other files he was working on to get me these images for my blog. To Judy, "Thanks for suggesting the outing in the first place."
     The final shout-out I would offer is to Brian K. Wheeler for his book Raptors of the East which I reviewed for Princeton University Press when it was published last year. It simply is the very best. You need nothing else!



     

Book Review - Birds of Prey of the East, Birds of Prey of the West - Princeton University Press

     I was very excited indeed when I received the review copies of these companion volumes covering all the raptors of North America. 

     Thirteen years in the making, it is an opus of the highest order, with a mass of information and detail, unrivalled by any other work presently available. 
     Brian K. Wheeler is an authority on these birds, recognized the world over as one of the very finest, so my expectations were high. If anything expectations were exceeded. The level of scholarship in these two volumes is staggering, the detail incredible,  the artwork magnificent, the narrative superb.
     There can be little doubt that Wheeler is unsurpassed in his portrayal of birds of prey. All of the images are presented in the same way, with different species in identical poses. While this might seem boring at first blush, it enables the reader to make easy comparison between species and is quickly appreciated for its simplicity.
     I must admit that I found it disarming at first to see the birds presented on coloured backgrounds. I am sure that this comes from years of conditioning when images were painted on a white background. It did not take me long, however, to recognize that the coloured background is superior. Nuances such as white outer fringes to feathers are much more clearly revealed against a coloured background and tend not to get lost as they do on a white background, when white on the plumage merges with white on the page.
     One of the most appealing features for me was the large maps, mostly full page. How many times have you been squinty-eyed looking at tiny little range maps in field guides, wanting to reach for the magnifying glass? How many field guides do you have without range maps at all? This is truly a major advance and reveals just how clearly the author realizes what his readers want and need. Wheeler has the good sense and foresight to include the names of major cities on the maps, an artifice I have never seen before, yet it is so helpful in instantly understanding the range of the bird.

     Take a look at the pages above for Black Vulture. Everything you need is there, starting with a concise descriptive text, a series of illustrations covering all forms from recently fledged juvenile to adult, with accompanying narrative, followed by information on habitat, status, nesting, movements and comparison with other species. There are photographs of the kinds of habitat where this species can be expected, and a glorious full page map.
     That most variable of buteos, the Red-tailed Hawk, a species with such a wide range of plumage variation that birds from different parts of the continent can initially, especially in sub adult plumage, be taken for another species, is examined in incredible detail.

     A full 48 pages is dedicated to this species alone. It sometimes seems to me that Red-tailed Hawk has been permanently under taxonomic review and a comprehensive discussion of the various distinct morphs is provided, with even an analysis of the proposed "Northern" subspecies, a topic much on the minds of raptor biologists of late.
     Extensive coverage of every species follows a rigorous format, providing the reader with all the information one needs about the bird in a highly readable format, free of scientific jargon which can at times be daunting to some.

     Pleasant surprises manifest themselves throughout the books. Consider the pages below at the culmination of the section on Ferruginous Hawk.

     There is a wonderful photograph of typical short grass prairie breeding territory and depiction of two of the principal prey species of this magnificent raptor, Black-tailed Prairie Dog in winter and Richardson's Ground Squirrel in summer. The accompanying full page map shows summer and winter ranges, and by combining all the information a full picture is created. If you find yourself in the winter somewhere between Oklahoma City and Houston, in an area known to have Black-tailed Prairie Dogs, you are in prime Ferruginous Hawk territory. All the dots are connected.
     In recent years, advances in DNA studies (and some physical studies) have revealed that vultures and falcons have been incorrectly classified in relation to other raptorial birds, and traditional affinities were deemed incorrect. Wheeler recognizes both of these orders as raptors and includes them in this work. Vultures are placed in their normal position before other raptors; and falcons, with their specialized killing techniques are accorded full pride of place. These birds are unquestionably raptors but originate from a different ancestral source.
      Books are akin to holy icons to me and I would never advocate disposing of volumes from your library. If, however, in a moment of madness you felt inclined to throw away raptor volumes, you could retain only these two books for North American raptors, and have a complete work at your disposal. The term "Field Guide" is a bit of a misnomer for this encyclopaedic treatise. It really does contain all you need to know.
     I cannot state too strongly how much pleasure and satisfaction I have derived from Wheeler's scholarship and fine artwork. These books will be essential companions for ever more.

Birds of Prey of the East: A Field Guide
Text and illustrations by Brian K. Wheeler
Flexibound/$27.95/9780691117065/304 pages/5 1/4 x 8/162 colour illustrations, 38 maps
Publication date: 19 June 2018

Birds of Prey of the West: A Field Guide
Text and illustrations by Brian K. Wheeler
Flexibound/$27.95/978069117188/360 pages/5 1/4 x 8/175 colour illustrations, 58 maps
Publication date: 19 June 2018