I'd normally wouldn't respond to the usual poor photo bird ID banter
impugning my dubious ID of a tiny photo but ...

On Sep 13, 2009, at 12:10 PM, Geoff wrote:

> I am completely unfamiliar with the reference you indicated, but as
> I said
> before, you should be careful about what you believe just cause its
> in a
> book. The book may be written by someone who is grossly under-
> informed
> about a point they are making. In this case, I really have to wonder
> where
> the info came from.


I am careful about what I read. I also check the reputation of the
author too. So lets check the authors reputation in this case, see
what he said and see how it might apply in this raptor ID.

The book is based on the field observations of the author, Peter
Dunne, as he RVed around the US for a year to update his other notes
and experiences after 47 years as a birder.

That's the Peter Dunne: Director of the Cape May Bird Observatory, VP
of New Jersey Audubon Society Natural History Information, and founder
of the World Series of Birding. His team, that included Roger Tory
Peterson, won the first year the WSB and was the only the third 200
species state Big Day (i.e. other than of CA or TX). That was back in
1984.

Doesn't ring a bell?

Author of the odd book or seventeen (some of which are factual!). And
a few about raptors. Like classic jizz hawk ID book "Hawks in
Flight" (along with David Sibley).

Even the ABA knows about him well enough to interview him where he
talks about the Field Guide Companion book and why he wrote it.

http://www.aba.org/birding/v40n2p20.pdf

What's that phrase you used: "may be grossly under-informed"? :-)

You shouldn't dismiss a set of well written observations just because
you haven't seen a particular book written by an author about whose
reputation you have no clue especially one meant to deal with
probabilistically IDing birds in jizz fashion (or "Cape May School of
Birding" style) that applies in exactly this case of a BVD from a poor
photo with a minimal amount of info. IMHO, at least.

So back to my comment about "neck turning" in the photo.

You can find a preview of Pete Dunne's Essential Field Guide
Companion: A Comprehensive Resource for Identifying North American
Birds in Google Books if you'd like to look at what he wrote.

http://books.google.com/books?id=xTXeu5fLBQUC

Page 156 he describes the Cooper's Hawk if you would like to read it.
Search for Cooper's Hawk in the book. Or copy and paste the link
below. The Sharp-shinned Hawk entry is on page 155 for comparison.

http://books.google.com/books?id=xTXeu5fLBQUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v
=onepage&q=cooper%27s%20hawk&f=false

where the entry says:

" ... and it also frequently cranes it's neck which is something a
Sharpie can never do."

He says "cranes" but I used "turns" though that was my intended
meaning. I see the bird in the photo "craning" it's neck looking over
it's left shoulder to look behind it.

But then (possibly over thinking this) I though perhaps I'm
misinterpreting the use of "crane": perhaps he means to turn it's neck
so as to look around over it's shoulder (owl-like?) or to stretch out
the neck forwards? What did Peter mean? The best way to find out is to
ask him. I sent Peter Dunne an email and got a prompt and concise
reply: "What I mean is raising/turning the head and looking back. My
dictionary defines craning as: "to strain or stretch the neck."
Doesn't say anything about direction."

So Peter means it in the sense of stretching the neck when turning the
head to look over the shoulder.

Is the bird craning its neck in photo? I think it is. You may
disagree. I've seen them do it in real life too. I've spent a fair
amount of time observing adult and juvi Coops in the field too. I've
posted here about that before (and more so offline with others on the
list).

So my ID is probable Juvenile Cooper's Hawk. And in real life I'd
decide on that basis to get more info to ID it enough to count it
(depending upon what I was doing that day). Or perhaps good enough to
ignore it if I was looking for a Sharpie.

Add in some in-flight observations to the photo (other than the
Kestrel interaction ... though that would give a size scale might help
a bit if both were in the same visual field) and we'd have this ID
nailed e.g. "flying crucifix" versus "flying mallet" might even be
obvious to someone who doesn't hawk watch.

And a little plug for the book. It's a rather different book to almost
all field guides. Too large to take into the field but very good for
prepring for a target bird. You can find the Field Guide Companion in
your local library or secondhand books stores (like Half-Price books
with remaindered copies) or online. Read the reviews of it they're
interesting too (some find his language too florid but I often find it
memorable ""). I find it helpful. Others might too.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618236481

Or some of his other books. Some are even funny and educational (at
the same time). They make nice birder Christmas gifts too.

http://www.amazon.com/s/qid=1252877604/ref=sr_pg_3?ie=UTF8&rs=&sort=relevancerank&rh=n%3A!1000%2Ci%3Astripbooks%2Cp_27%3APete%20Dunne

That's my 2000? contribution. :-)
--
Kevin Purcell
kevinpurcell at pobox.com
twitter: at kevinpurcell



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