Guide to Hawk Watching in North America

This review by Ron Pittaway was published in OFO News 22(3):2 October 2004, newsletter of the Ontario Field Ornithologists. Guide to Hawk Watching in North America. 2003. Second Edition. Donald S. Heintzelman. The Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, Connecticut. ISBN 0-7627-2670-9. Softcover, 425 pages. US$16.95. This guide gives descriptions and directions to 460 spring and fall hawkwatching sites in North America. It rates them as poor, fair, good, excellent. Fourteen sites are described for Ontario. Amherst Island is listed under other viewing areas. The Fisherville area for winter viewing should be listed in the next edition. Bald Eagle watching etiquette and viewing areas are described. Every North American diurnal raptor is described under these heading: field recognition, wingspread, length, flight style, voice, nest and eggs, longevity, food, habitat, and range in North America. Included is information on watching hawks such as judging size and shape, flight style and behaviour, distance from observer and viewing angle, light conditions, habitat, field equipment, owl decoys, etc. The chapter on migration seasons has excellent visual bar graphs showing the spring and fall migration periods for eastern North America and a fall bar graph for western North America. The chapter on mechanics of hawk flights discusses weather conditions, deflective updrafts, lee waves, thermals, thermal streets, squall lines, and leading-lines. I highly recommend this informative and useful book. It is the hawkwatcher's companion.

Reprinted from my review in Wildlife Activist, Number 49. Guide to Hawk Watching in North America by Donald S. Heintzelman. 2004. Paper. Globe Pequot Press, Guilford, CT. $16.95. In 1979, Don Heintzelman published his first edition of A Guide to Hawk Watching in North America. This pioneering guide (based on his previous guides to eastern hawk watching) provided the hawkwatcher with the two major essentials of hawk watching: information on raptor identification, especially migrating (i.e. flying) raptors, and places and times to observe migrating hawks. A quarter century has passed, hawk watching has become one of the most popular branches of birding, and much has been learned about hawk migration and identification, leading to the need for this 2004 FalconGuide edition. Little is changed in the format from the first edition except that the section of raptor photo plates of the 1979 guide has been deleted. (This makes sense in light of the fact that several excellent raptor ID guides now exist and are referenced here, while none existed in 1979.) Although the format is unchanged, the text has been updated, especially with respect to raptor watch sites, with the number of sites nearly doubled (to 460) in the current guide. Each site account includes a description of the site, how to find it, and a rating for spring and autumn flights based on a unique rating system developed by the author. In addition to raptor migration sites, there are also sections of Bald Eagle observation sites and of other raptor viewing sites. The species accounts include wingspan and length, field recognition, flight style, voice, nest, eggs, longevity (this is new and quite interesting), food, habits, and range in North America. For the novice hawk watcher, here is all you need to get started or improve your skill. For the veteran, the guide is a good refresher on hawk migration and gives you an endless supply of sites to visit in North America. So whether you are a relative newcomer or a seasoned veteran with a dog-eared copy of the 1979 book, it is well worth the affordable price to invest in this FalconGuide edition of Guide to Hawk Watching in North America. DRK