Hawks from Every Angle: How to Identify Raptors In Flight (Hardcover)

by Jerry Liguori (Author), David A. Sibley (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A major advance in our knowledge of identifying raptors in flight.
(Donald S. Heintzelman International Hawkwatcher )

No one knows the intricacies of raptor identification better. . . . [E]very hawkwatcher will want to own this great new book.
(Dan R. Kunkle Wildlife Activist )

Review
Jerry Liguori has spent most of the last twenty years in the field watching and photographing hawks, and thousands of hours poring over photos and research to piece the puzzle of identification together. The result . . . is this guide, which is the most detailed and confident explanation yet of the myriad clues that lead to successful identification of hawks. This book is the first of its kind that deals with the real-world problems of identifying flying raptors from different angles. . . . The understanding of what hawkwatchers actually face in the field comes through on every page.
(David A. Sibley, author of the National Audubon Society's "The Sibley Guide to Birds" )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (October 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691118248
• ISBN-13: 978-0691118246
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,025,197 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good, November 7, 2005

By	N. Anich (Ashland, WI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hawks from Every Angle: How to Identify Raptors In Flight (Paperback)

As the title indicates, this book focuses primarily on flight identification, and does a good job of showing and comparing raptors from multiple angles. So if you're looking to identify which hawk is perched in a tree in your yard, look elsewhere. But if you're interested in hawkwatching or honing your ability to identify distant raptors, this is a worthy pickup.

This book nicely fills a gap between the Wheeler Guides (which have very close detailed photogaphs) and Hawks in Flight (which has mostly illustrations focusing on shape). This book has photographs, but the emphasis is on shape and structure more than plumage. It's got some really helpful pages where they put similar birds together and the same size flying overhead, then all flying to the right, then all flying at you, then flying away so you can directly compare subtle differences. It's got some nice photoshopped stuff where they inserted another bird into a photo for comparison (e.g. a nice one of a Peregrine and a Gyr both flying together). There are also "pitfall" images where they show similar birds you could confuse given certain looks at them.

I haven't read all the text yet, but the stuff I've read seems spot-on. It's got some fun hawkwatch numbers, like record days and seasons and a map of hawkwatch sites. (Although some of the dots on the map seem to be off). Overall if you're interested in hawks enough to still be reading this review, you'll probably find this book to be cool.

58 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars another mistitled hawk book, January 13, 2006

By	Peter J. Moulton (Phoenix AZ, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hawks from Every Angle: How to Identify Raptors In Flight (Paperback)

If you're looking for a book that covers all the raptors that regularly occur in North America, forget it. A more honest title would've been 'Raptors of Northeastern Hawkwatch Sites.' Even then, northeastern hawkwatchers won't find Harris' Hawk in the book. The raptors Liguori does cover are done well, by and large, and I was particularly impressed with the treatments of both Harlan's Hawk and the Northern Harrier. But if you live in the West, as I do, you'll find the book less useful than the title suggests. Get yourself a Clark and Wheeler--it'll serve you much better. I'm looking forward to that frabjous day when hawkwatchers will escape their eastern bias, and discover that we have hawks in the West too.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hawks from Every Angle, April 17, 2006

By	K. Freeman (Apple Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Hawks from Every Angle: How to Identify Raptors In Flight (Paperback)

A super-useful reference guide that goes well with HAWKS IN FLIGHT -- and actually I would probably look at this one first. Photographs and text both contain a lot of helpful information to assist in raptor identification -- though the "pitfalls" shots make it clear that not every bird will be identifiable.

Mileage obviously varies, but as a Californian I don't feel shortchanged by this book and have used it particularly for Sharpie/Cooper's differentiation.