New Product Review:

Hawk Watch - A Video Guide to Eastern Raptors

Review by Susan Fogleman

Hawk Watch - A Video Guide to Eastern Raptors
by Richard K. Walton and Greg Dodge
Brownbag Productions, 1998
VHS Videotape, 45 Minutes

The hawk zips past you as you wipe wind-induced tears from your eyes. You've been standing on the hawk watch site more than four hours, recording a fairly heavy migration. Many birds have passed overhead, others have obligingly circled once or twice, allowing you to process silhouette, patterns, field marks and make the ID. All this happens so quickly that you don't even have to think about it. If pressed to verbalize, chances are you'd begin with a description that could describe a plate from one of several guides to raptor identification. However, this last bird didn't circle. All you saw was a speeding feathered missile, side-on view. Field guides don't show this view! How can you make an ID? CAN you make an ID?

Richard Walton and Greg Dodge have endeavored to provide both veteran and would-be hawkwatchers with a means of studying the "jizz" of our Eastern raptors. Their video joins a growing library of birding video guides and gives us an opportunity to see hawks in flight, as hawk watch observers may see them. While actual field observation time is unparalleled in improving one's identification skills, this video can be a useful tool for preparing yourself for field time. In the field, shapes and behaviors become the clues for identification, as passing birds do not often allow looks at the markings and colors depicted in field guide plates.

Dick Walton is well known as the co-creator (along with Bob Lawson) and narrator for the "Peterson Field Guides®: Birding by Ear" audio series. The same attention to critical nuance in that series can be found throughout this video. Walton's narration in this video mentions such behavioral quirks as the buoyancy of a Sharp-shinned Hawk's flight and the bird's tendency to "make numerous in-flight adjustments." He points out the quick wing-beats of a Black Vulture and mentions how Merlins often seem to delight in chasing other hawks. Silhouette shapes also receive his attention, as Walton points out the straighter leading edge of a Cooper's Hawk wing, the forward-tending appearance of a Red-shouldered Hawk's wings. We are allowed to ponder many of the highlighted features by the use of helpful stop-frames.

The birds are not presented in taxonomic order, nor are buteos presented so that species most likely to be confused are placed in consecutive order. For example, Broad-winged Hawk is followed by Rough-legged Hawk, a raptor that most Eastern hawkwatch site visitors may not encounter (although the footage of two color morphs of this beautiful bird is well worth watching). In all, nineteen species are shown on the video. While this video guide is apparently intended to help hone the skills of migration watchers, some other behaviors have been included, such as Harrier and Kestrel hunting and Goshawk courtship display, sometimes seen by spring hawk watchers. My biggest disappointment, and it is minor, is that there is no footage of adult Golden Eagle. Immature Bald Eagle is given good coverage. Attention to immature Golden is brief. Looking at a soaring adult Golden in order to compare it with a dark immature Bald would have been useful. For any future editions the producers may want to consider using split screen images of similar or confusing species. They also might give some thought to showing hawks in different wind conditions. For example, strong winds can often make Broadwings look very un-buteo-like.

The quality of the video is quite good, although some viewers may notice "halos" around some images. One trick that can enhance your viewing pleasure is to watch some segments through your binoculars. It is amazing how this increases the "reality" of the experience.

Walton and Dodge have added a quiz at the end of the tape. This presents some good challenges and is a useful means of reminding the viewer (as the tape's liner card says) that "some hawks under some circumstances... just can't be identified." I showed this quiz to three experienced hawkwatchers. Their answers were about 65% correct. They all agreed that the quiz was too fast and that for beginners it would probably be too intimidating. All noted that in concentrating on the featured bird they often missed the accompanying quiz number. Should the producers plan a revised version at some future time they might consider an oral number cue, and/or a pause between the species.

Overall the video is a very helpful new tool. It can be viewed repeatedly as a refresher prior to the onset of each migration season. The liner card includes counter numbers for each species, thus enabling the viewer to select a particular bird for study. The video is a bit pricey. However, when one considers the opportunity to be able to really study the "jizz" of flying hawks any time day or night regardless of the weather, "Hawk Watch - A Video Guide to Eastern Raptors" will make a valuable addition to your library.

She can be reached at fogleman@cyberportal.net.