A group that's always held my interest, even before I was into birding, is birds of prey. When I went on my first hawk watching field trip, I was told it's easiest if you first separate the accipiters from the buteos from the falcons. I just nodded, I'd heard the word falcon before but what were the others mentioned? I had no clue, luckily an old saying came to mind: it's better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you're an idiot than to open it and remove all doubt. So, there I stood, watching specks in the sky and trying to absorb as much of the chatter as possible,
When I got home I quickly looked into buying all the titles of the books I saw floating around and after getting my first hand me down computer I bought a couple of cd-roms with great video-game-like hawk watching quizzes. After almost 20 years, I'm able to identify most hawks that fly over our yard.
Accipiters have relatively short rounded wings and a long rudder like tail that gives them the ability to follow prey through thick bushes. They usually fly with several wing flaps then a glide. We have three species, Sharp-shinned, Cooper's and Northern Goshawk, the most common hawk to see around feeder stations is the Sharp-shinned Hawk, it can be seen scouting around the yard with it's characteristic flight pattern, when prey is spotted a sprint through the trees is likely to follow. Telling the sharpie from its close relative the Cooper's Hawk in considered one of the toughest identifications for the hawk watcher. In general, the Cooper's is larger, but there is overlap, an immature female sharpie might be larger than an adult male Cooper's. They say to rely on several "clues" to come up with your ID.
I still haven't checked off Cooper's on my life list. Maybe I should put that on next year's to do list.
The Northern Goshawk is a little easier to tell apart from the other accipiters, it's larger and thicker, and has a distinctive plumage. They too can be seen around feeder yards, bearing down on an unsuspecting pigeon.
Buteos have broad wings, wide bodies and short tails, they're able to soar for long periods. Buteos are the main subject of most hawk watchers, hundreds can be seen on a one day hawk watching stint as near by as New Horton in Albert County. Locally the buteos include the Red-tailed Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk and the occasional Red-Shouldered Hawk.
Most people hear "falcon" and they think Peregrine, but there are three falcons commonly found in New Brunswick, and yes it's great to think of the Peregrine Falcon again as somewhat common. We also get the Merlin, who looks much like a mini Peregrine and the one who nests in houses is the Kestrel, a beautifully-coloured falcon about the size of a robin. Compared to the accipiter, falcons have long tapered cycle shaped wings and a short tail, they fly with constant flapping compared to the intermittent flap glide of the accipiter.
So, if you're on a hawk watch and you hear, "Buteo at 10 o'clock," you can at least narrow your guess down to four species, or less. First, it's not likely a Red-shouldered, Rough-legged overwinter here and leave early. Broad-winged feed mostly on cold blooded animals so they arrive last and leave first. Red-tailed hunt mostly mammals to they will arrive first and leave late. If the first 250 buteos spotted were Red-tailed, you'll likely be safe guessing Red-tailed, but you never know for sure.
* Dwayne Biggar's column appears every Saturday. He can be reached at The Bird Garden, 3203 Rt 114, Edgett's Landing, N.B., E4H 2E9, or at 506-734-2489 or e-mail
thebirdgarden@rogers.com.
