Hawks In Flight, the Texas Specialties Edition
program by Clay Sutton
This program is based on the landmark book Hawks In Flight, the Flight Identification of North American Raptors (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1988, 254 pages; 2nd Edition, 2012, 335 pages), by Pete Dunne, Dave Sibley, and Clay Sutton. The program will emphasize the holistic method of hawk identification, where IDs are made on the basis of silhouette, shape, behavior, and movement, a method which goes far beyond the standard field marks. Not only will basic raptor ID be covered, but there will be an emphasis on South Texas species – expected specialties and rarities. Texas hosts a number of tropical species not found elsewhere in the United States, borderland treats such as Hook-billed Kite, White-tailed Hawk, and Aplomado Falcon. And, more raptor species have been seen in Texas than any other state!
This focused review will draw from the newly released and completely revised and expanded (including borderland raptors) Second Edition of Hawks in Flight. This in-depth hawkwatching program is based on the over 100 years of collective hawk watching experience of the three authors and will be the perfect primer for hawk watching anywhere in South Texas and the American West.