Tweets...this is a long review of Brian Wheeler's new raptor guides by Stan
Moore (no relation) of the Santa Rosa, Calif. area. I have the Western area
guide and it is everything he says it is.
Dianna Moore
Ocean Shores, Wa.
dlmoor2 at coastaccess.com


Sent: Monday, January 05, 2004 10:18 PM
Subject: [NEWBIRDHAWK] Book Review: Wheeler Raptor Guides Are a Quantum Leap
Forward!


Note: This book review was written for wide distribution to an electronic
audience, via internet and email Please feel free to distribute this review
to any person, organization, web page, or other entity if you believe that
entity would be interested in this review or the subject of raptors, bird
watching, hawk migration monitoring, falconry, etc.



Raptors of Western North America: The Wheeler Guides. By Brian K. Wheeler.
2003. Princeton University Press. 560 pp. 622 color illus. 56 maps. ISBN
0-691-11599-0. Hardcover, $49.50.

Raptors of Eastern North America: The Wheeler Guides. By Brian K. Wheeler.
2003. Princeton University Press. 456 pp. 559 color illus. 37 maps.
ISBN 0-691-11598-2.
Hardcover, $45.00.


If Roger Tory Peterson, popularizer of the modern field guide, were alive
today and able to examine the new Wheeler (Raptor) Guides, he would no doubt
summarize them with adjectives such as "Well done!", or "Outstanding!", or
even "Extraordinary!", or possibly "Fabulous!" Peterson was familiar with
the work of Brian K. Wheeler, as Wheeler teamed with collaborator (at the
time) William S. Clark to co-author the Peterson Field Guide to Hawks. The
Peterson Field Guide to Hawks was and is an outstanding reference and field
guide, but the new Wheeler (Raptor) Guides are a quantum leap forward for
field guides; combining visual images, natural history information, range
maps, behavioral information and comprising almost a veritable miniature
encyclopedia of highly pertinent information for anyone wanting, not only to
identify, but to better understand diurnal raptors.

Evidence of the extreme high quality of this book are endorsements by two
raptor experts with the first name of Clay - Dr. Clay White of Brigham Young
University, who wrote the forward, and Clay Sutton of Cape May, New Jersey,
who has also strongly endorsed the Wheeler Guides. While perhaps best known
as an expert on peregrine falcons worldwide, Clay White is author of
scientific and technical papers on diurnal raptors of several species, and
Clay White says in the foreward to "enjoy what you have in your hands
because it will be a long time before something equal or better comes
along". Clay Sutton has authored (or co-authored) his own outstanding guides
to identifying hawks in flight and spotting hawks and owls, and Clay Sutton
has said this is the "ultimate" guide and "will be for decades to come."

This guide is a quantum leap forward for field guides. It is chalk full of
highly useful and fascinating information. The visual images of raptors are
outstanding. The distribution maps comprise the most outstanding collection
ever assembled, with an enormous investment of effort and skill. The text
contains a virtual encyclopedia of information on raptor natural history,
biology, and morphology, with particular emphasis (as one would expect) on
the breeding locations and yearly movements of North American raptors. From
this book, one can learn how to identify raptors, where to look for them,
what forces and phenomena drive migrations and movements, and much, much
more.

Even before the species accounts, there is a compilation in various
introductory chapters and sub-chapters of instruction on how to identify
raptors, how to recognize significant plumage and morphological and
behavioral traits. Identification of raptors can be a puzzle, and "solving
the puzzle" is the very first topic of discussion in the Introduction.
For instance, under "Perching" on page 1, we learn that "The distance from
the tips of the primaries to the tail tip (the wingtip-to-tail-tip ratio) is
very important in large raptors." Even within the same species (such as
Buteo jamaicensis), differentiation between subspecies can be distinguished
in some cases between differences in the wing-to-tail ratio.

The General Glossary is an education to raptorphiles in and of itself. The
four varieties of albinism are described,; total, incomplete, imperfect, and
partial albinism. Anatomy and Feather Glossary form yet a separate chapter,
and again provides an education in fascinating traits of birds. The
Plumage, Age and Molt Glossary describes molt patterns for classes of
raptors as well as descriptions of age classes. The Flying and Perching
Displays Glossary and Perching and Flying Attitudes descriptions are
accompanied by wonderful photographs on pages 30 - 32, allowing readers to
visualize the concepts described in the text, such as "rousing", "mantling",
"distended crop" and many others. If the reader retains and understands the
information in just the first 35 pages or so of the book (Western guide),
even before entering the species account sections, one would have benefited
dramatically from these volumes!

The species accounts are first rate, comprehensive, and generally
well-illustrated. Not only is each species described and illustrated, but
many subspecies and color-morphs are described. One very useful feature is
the photographic depiction of some birds with "fresh" versus "worn" or
"faded" plumage. For instance, plate 133 on page 155 shows an adult male
northern harrier in fresh plumage in November, whereas the very next plate
(134) on the same page shows a similar adult male northern harrier in worn
plumage in April. A note appears -- "Dorsal color fades considerably by
spring". What a wonderful, subtle educational tool, hardly seen (to my
knowledge) in other field guides!
Another very interesting photo in the section on northern harriers is plate
138 on page 156, which depicts a subadult male, transitioning from juvenile
to adult plumage. Raptor watchers in the wild see transitional plumages and
these plumages are not always described in field guides. Wheeler's guides
depict such phenomena - another example is plate 197 on page 208 depicting a
subadult goshawk with obviously retained juvenal feathers.

Variations within a single species are depicted. Plates 35, 36, and 37, all
on page 75, show three different adult ospreys, with variations in breast
markings, from unmarked to heavily-marked breasts. Plates 166 and 167 on
page 177 show variation on breast streaking on sharp-shinned hawks. Plate
162 shows the Sutton's subspecies of sharp-shinned hawks in a photo provided
to Wheeler by accipiter specialist Helen Snyder - it is always a treat to
see one of Helen's photos!

An example of the highly informative natural history information relative to
moments is the discussion of irruptive movements of northern goshawks based
on prey cycles of both snowshoe hares and ruffed grouse. Wheeler discusses
the basics of these dynamic phenomena and provides historic timing
references in a nice discussion on pp 199 - 202.

Another interesting tidbit from the text is a listing of osprey
reintroduction programs, such as artificial nest construction programs, as
described on page 72. The range expansion of raptors is sometimes related
to human management, and discussion of osprey conservation management is
indicative of the thoroughness of Brian Wheeler's research into this series.

Have you ever seen a photo of a kettle of migrating broad-winged hawks in a
field guide? Can you explain to a member of the public what a "kettle"
looks like? Just turn to plate 265 on page 259 and you can show and tell
this sort of information.

Did you ever hear someone say that a bird can no more be a "partial albino"
than a woman can be "partially pregnant"? There are actually some
uninformed people who believe that - but they have not seen plate 397 - a
partial albino red-tail hawk. Accompanying this plate is a note with
information I have never seen in print before: "Partial albinism affects
remiges and dorsal areas more than most other areas."

Peregrine falcon subspecies are described in detail. Migratory tendencies
and movements vary considerably between the peregrine subspecies. Brian
Wheeler has provided the photos, the data and the knowledge to make possible
the understanding of greatest likelihoods of peregrine subspecific
identification for anyone sighting F. peregrinus.

The jacket covers for both volumes are highly attractive. These volumes are
heavy in weight; they make you feel like you are grasping something special
when you handle one of these books. I love the dark-morph ferruginous hawk
on the cover of the western volume - what a beauty! Of course, if you look
at the note on plate 445, on page 384, you will find that the dark-morph
ferruginous hawk is a "rare morph constituting 1% of population".

If you look at plate 356 on page 348, depicting a typical western red-tailed
hawk, you will see another very useful note: "Old adults have dark irises"
in red-tailed hawks. Juvenile red-tails are marked consistently in various
plates as having "pale iris". A comparison on plates 407 on page 360 and
plate 415 on page 362 provides a clue as to the difference in indentifying
dark morph western (calarus) red-tail juveniles and dark-morph juvenile
Harlan's hawks. (hint: read about tail tips).

The Wheeler guides are fabulous! They are so chock-full of information that
one could spend many, many hours reading and digesting. Are the books
perfect? Nothing is perfect in this world - not even the Wheeler Raptor
Guides, but they are close, and readers may be able to help improve future
editions.

In explanation, when this reviewer read his own copies of the Wheeler
guides, he was so excited that he found another copy of the Western Guide
and gave it as a gift to a raptor biologist/falconer/friend. The fiend
immediately sent an email saying that the distribution maps for
sharp-shinned hawks were incorrect. Sharp-shinned hawks are documented as
breeding in Marin County, just north of the San Francisco Bay, as well as in
Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, on the immediate east side of San
Francisco Bay. I know this to be true, and sure enough, the Wheeler Guide
distribution map for sharp-shinned hawks did not extend that far. I
contacted Brian Wheeler with this information, and found that state atlases
were used for California, but some county breeding bird atlases were not
used. As a result, I have offered to send photocopies of the Marin and
Sonoma County Breeding Bird Atlas species accounts for this species to Brian
Wheeler. Brian has offered to compile any such documentation. If other
readers are able to detect similar issues, and can provide good
documentation that will aid in increasing accuracy of the Guides, Brian
Wheeler says he would be very please to receive and compile such information
for possible inclusion in future editions of the Wheeler Guides.

This is a book that will benefit professional biologists, amateur
ornithologists, amateur birdwatchers, hawk migration counters, falconers,
banders, and anyone and everyone interested in raptors. A wealth of
information in the text is available to provide a real raptor education for
beginners and even for advanced raptorfiles and biologists. This book is a
must for anyone seriously interested in raptors. The Wheeler Guides are a
quantum leap forward and to benefit, one must take the leap and obtain this
book. Consider it a must!



Stan Moore 4220 Langner Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95407

Hawkman11 at hotmail.com

_________________________________________________________________
Make your home warm and cozy this winter with tips from MSN House & Home.
http://special.msn.com/home/warmhome.armx




------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/aCYolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Yahoo! Groups Links

To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEWBIRDHAWK/

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
NEWBIRDHAWK-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/