Migration season is in full swing for many raptors and there are hawks and falcons flying overhead – in some cases in large numbers. I love watching these birds during migration if for no other reason than sometimes there are huge numbers of them. I was in Panama several seasons ago and the hawks were kettling as of thousands of them flowed into a tight formation to stay over land, battling for space over the isthmus of Panama. It’s like when the superhighway suddenly loses a lane and all the cars back up because they have to change the traffic flow to accommodate fewer lanes. And it is a boon to hawk watchers.

Recently I was watching a trio of hawks just enjoying the currents overheard. I still find identifying hawks a challenge and so when I was creating the Peterson iPhone Field Guide to Birds of Prey (you can also use it on your iPod Touch), I wanted to have a handy guide that was easy to use and I kept in mind the things that I found helpful when trying to make identifications.

Mostly I see birds of prey silhouetted. When I look in bird field guides, the beautifully drawn images or well lit photos are great to look at, but in the field, they are not always as helpful. Peterson has available silhouettes for each family of raptor, so we used those to identify the family each bird is in. That generally is my first place to look – get the shape of the body and wings, and this narrows it down a lot.

Once the family is found (and they all are fairly distinct in silhouette), the next thing I look for is the overhead shape and color. We took the beautifully drawn Peterson overhead images and made them part of every individual plate for the birds for which they were available. So, you can touch the name of each bird in the family you are after and check the overhead view to see if it looks like what you are looking at – pale or dark, distinctive markings, maybe a window in the wing…things like that.

If I am still not sure at that point, even though I probably have it narrowed down to only one or two, then I touch the information icon on the app on the birds in question so I can see the text. Sometimes there is identifying information in there that is not quickly visible in the image.

A final identifying opportunity is if the birds are vocal, then I can look at the birds I have it narrowed down to and listen to each of their calls to compare. Often this is the best confirmation for me that I have the right bird. The whole process generally doesn’t take much time because it is really simple to move between birds in a family and to get information on each bird quickly by touching the buttons at the bottom of the screen. And, because the app is resident on the handset of your iPhone or iPod Touch, there is no need for an internet connection. I also always have my phone with me, so I am never without a quick and accurate identification tool for birds of prey.

To make it easier to learn to identify birds of prey quickly, we designed a quiz that gives you the choice of learning birds of prey either just by their sound or by sound and image. It’s a multiple choice quiz and it is fun to do and a good way to learn the different birds of prey. Even people who are not serious birdwatchers love this. Who doesn’t like hearing the calls of raptors? Some are such a surprise!

One of the cool things about this iPhone app is that not only can it help with identification, but it also helps raptors at the same time. My company, Wildtones, supports a variety of wildlife and animal charitable organizations, and we were delighted to be able to team up with our friends at The Peregrine Fund which is a leader in conservation and research for birds of prey. We donate 5% of the profits from the sale of the Peterson iPhone Field Guide to Birds of Prey to The Peregrine Fund and we hope to be able to continue to help supporting their really great work for some time.

If you have any questions or comments about raptor watching or this app, we’d love to hear from you! Oh, and BTW, no matter what iPhone or iPod Touch you have, this app will work on it.