Though they are experts, they have not forgotten the trials and pitfalls that mark the paths of the beginner. This book proves that. So go ahead and buy this book, and you will hold in your hands the key that unlocks the heavens, then go out and watch some hawks. Wheeler and Clark have gone a long way toward taking the frustration out of the endeavor, leaving more time for the excitement and wonder that defines hawk watching. Hats off to them, good hawk-watching to you.
Sexes are alike in plumage and size.
Adults are overall black, except for large white areas on the underwing coverts and a silvery cast to uppersides of secondaries and greater coverts. Head and swollen neck are orange, and legs are whitish. Juveniles are similar in plumage but their heads and necks are narrower and dusky, and underwing coverts are mottled balck and white. Immatures gradually get more white on underwing coverts and heads become thicker and more orangish. Best field marks are huge size, very broad wings with deeply slotted primaries and bold white triangles on undersides, and orange to orange-yellow puffy heads of all but juveniles, which are blackish.