Customer Reviews

A Field Guide to Hawks of North America

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I consider the Second Edition of the Peterson Filde Guide to the hawks of North America as a must have for any serious birder. The book is well laid out. It has a great set of new color paintings to illustrate the various plumages of the hawks and supplements these by new color photos. Excellent field marks are given for each species. Some of them are new to me. The paintings are clear and sharp and illustrate the field marks needed to identify each bird. The book illustrates how to identify the birds both flying and perched. It is well written and easy to use. I think so highly of the book that it is a required text in addition to the Sibley Guide for an advanced wildlife identification course I teach.

If you are fascianted by American birds of prey - more properly known as raptors - than this is the book for you. Excellent coverage of all the birds of prey of the United States (excluding Hawaii) and Canada; hawks, falcons, eagles, harriers, goshawks, vultures, and condors are all covered. Detailed notes and excellent illustrations on how to identify males, females, and juveniles perching and in flight, as well notes on natural history, taxonomy, ranges, and more.

A must buy for the dedicate birder or natural history student, I recommend it.

This book certainly lives up to the standards of other peterson guides which I keep handy all the time. Hawks can be tricky identifying so I use this book in tandem with The Photographic Guide to North American Raptors. These two books together make a great set

When this book was first published, it was one of a kind. It remains a good reference today, and it is surprising how much useful information the authors packed into a pocket-sized book. Bravo! Its illustrated plates, however, are suggestive of a broad-brush approach, particularly with the poor rendering of wing and tail shapes. (Nearly useless for silhouettes!) An unfortunate blemish on an innovative guide!

The authors of this guide are also behind the well-regarded "A Photographic Guide to North American Raptors." And more recently, one author published two *superb* regional references (Raptors of Eastern North America: The Wheeler Guides, Raptors of Western North America: The Wheeler Guides) with Princeton University Press. These books are all worthy of your consideration.

I live in South Texas on the Mexican Border and see a great many hawks and falcons including Buteos. For whatever reason, some of these buteos are difficult for me to identify. I'm sure this is because of the plethora of morphs and juveniles but I'm also sure that my thick-headedness is also a factor.

Anyway, I've been looking around for a good reference to help me out and find that, of all my birding books, this book has helped me the most. For me, at least, excellent drawings are more helpful than photographs although good photos are also helpful. Clark and Wheeler's 'Hawks of North America' has both. In addition the organization and logic of this book is quite good. I can recommend it.

Ron Braithwaite, author of novels--'Skull Rack' and 'Hummingbird God'--on the Spsnish Conquest of Mexico

This book was purchased for a friend. It was requested by name. They were thrilled with it. It has virtual reference status in the group that they joined. Thanks.

I found this book to be a good reference, but not as a stand-alone reference for identification of hawks. I live along a major autumn hawk migration route where more than 15,000 raptors are seen almost every year, some at a considerable distance. This book is very helpful for getting a basic knowledge of hawks, but I have found that several references on hawks are sometimes needed to make a reliable identification. In addition to this guide, I also have two photo guides that show different morphs of various hawks, and using multiple references greatly improves identification of some of the difficult sightings.

Marshall Faintich, author of "A Photographic Guide to the Birds of Wintergreen."

This is a fantastic book! I use it myself to identify the different Hawks we see. Thank You.

This book is not only informitive but the photos and diagrams are high quality like the paper it is printed on.
If you love birds of prey like me , get this book.

This book is not all that other reviewers have made it to be. The plates are often vague and marginally helpful in field identification. This may be an ok first guide, but birders should look elsewhere for raptor identification tips!