Hey Birders,
Wow, sometimes those raptors are hard to identify. In fact, sometimes you just have to accept it that those falcons crashing by at a million miles an hour just didn't give you enough of a look to choose between Merlin or kestrel, especially on an overcast day when colors fade to silhouettes, and silhouettes fade to blurs. Sometimes those pesky accipiters are flying directly overhead seem to show equal numbers of characteristics for both sharpies and coops. You're split and everyone has a different opinion as to the identity based on values they put on identification.
My job here as a hawk counter means I need to work hard and assign an ID where possible. If you are up on the platform with me I will explain my reasoning and thought processes … now there's a dark tangled web indeed …. and we get to a stage where we can identify most of the birds. Birding really builds on experience and repetition. Did I say repetition. I'll say it again: Repetition. I was reminded by a fantastic birder very recently to keep looking at the bird, even after you know what it is. It's the best opportunity to see a known species in different conditions, it's flight styles and habits / quirks as it gets further and further away. How else are you going to be able to identify those distant specs with certainty?
Someone is always going to have better bins than you, maybe a more elaborate lense on a camera … maybe better eyesight. But nothing beats practice and patience. I've been doing this thing called birding since I was five years old, starting with a pair of plastic binoculars out of a spy kit…. Now they are Zeiss, but wherever I go in the world there are soooo many birds that remain unidentified. I give you a toast to uncertainty. Cheers.
Tally so far at end of first week of October: total raptors 10,839
Osprey 3268
Bald Eagle 309
Northern Harrier 325
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1041
Cooper's Hawk 495
Broad-winged Hawk 1153
Red-tailed Hawk 87
Red-shouldered Hawk 4
Swainson's Hawk 1
American Kestrel 2633
Merlin 1032
Peregrine 329
Mississippi Kite 4
Steve
