(Ebook) Raptor Research and Management Techniques by

David M. Bird; Keith L. Bildstein ISBN 9780888396396,

0888396392 Pdf Download

https://ebooknice.com/product/raptor-research-and-management-
techniques-55008256

★★★★★
4.8 out of 5.0 (47 reviews )

DOWNLOAD PDF

ebooknice.com
(Ebook) Raptor Research and Management Techniques by David
M. Bird; Keith L. Bildstein ISBN 9780888396396, 0888396392
Pdf Download

EBOOK

Available Formats

■ PDF eBook Study Guide Ebook

EXCLUSIVE 2025 EDUCATIONAL COLLECTION - LIMITED TIME

INSTANT DOWNLOAD VIEW LIBRARY

Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be
interested in. You can click the link to download.

(Ebook) Vultures of the World: Essential Ecology and Conservation by

Keith L. Bildstein ISBN 9781501765025, 1501765027

https://ebooknice.com/product/vultures-of-the-world-essential-ecology-
and-conservation-51832728

(Ebook) The Eagle Watchers : Observing and Conserving Raptors around

the World by Ruth Tingay; Todd Katzner; Keith L. Bildstein; Jemima
Parry-Jones ISBN 9780801459382, 0801459389

https://ebooknice.com/product/the-eagle-watchers-observing-and-
conserving-raptors-around-the-world-51382790

(Ebook) Raptors: The Curious Nature of Diurnal Birds of Prey by Keith

L. Bildstein ISBN 9781501705793, 9781501707858, 9781501707865,
1501705792, 150170785X, 1501707868, 2016044626, 2016045611

https://ebooknice.com/product/raptors-the-curious-nature-of-diurnal-
birds-of-prey-10840064

(Ebook) Raptor Medicine, Surgery and Rehabilitation by David Scott

ISBN 9781789246100, 1789246105

https://ebooknice.com/product/raptor-medicine-surgery-and-
rehabilitation-23269174
(Ebook) Captive raptor management & rehabilitation by Richard Naisbitt
& Peter Holz ISBN 9780888394903, 088839490X

https://ebooknice.com/product/captive-raptor-management-
rehabilitation-55064102

(Ebook) Piano adventures Performance 3b by Nancy and Randall Faber

https://ebooknice.com/product/piano-adventures-performance-3b-52393612

(Ebook) Digital Business and E-Commerce Management by Dave Chaffey;

Tanya Hemphill; David Edmundson-Bird ISBN 9781292193359, 1292193352

https://ebooknice.com/product/digital-business-and-e-commerce-
management-56221060

(Ebook) Biota Grow 2C gather 2C cook by Loucas, Jason; Viles, James

ISBN 9781459699816, 9781743365571, 9781925268492, 1459699815,
1743365578, 1925268497

https://ebooknice.com/product/biota-grow-2c-gather-2c-cook-6661374

(Ebook) Substance Use and the Acute Psychiatric Patient: Emergency

Management by Abigail L. Donovan, Suzanne A. Bird ISBN 9783319239606,
9783319239613, 3319239600, 3319239619

https://ebooknice.com/product/substance-use-and-the-acute-psychiatric-
patient-emergency-management-10489342
Raptor
Research
and Management
Techniques
Raptor
Research
and Management
Techniques

Edited by
DAVID M. BIRD
and
KEITH L. BILDSTEIN

Assistant Editors
DAVID R. BARBER
and
ANDREA ZIMMERMAN
ISBN 978-0-88839-639-6
Copyright © 2007 Raptor Research Foundation

Cataloging in Publication Data

Raptor research and management techniques / edited by David M. Bird ... [et al.].

First ed. published Washington, D.C. : Institute for Wildlife Research, National Wildlife Federation,
1987 under title: Raptor management techniques manual.

Includes bibliographies and index.

ISBN 978-0-88839-639-6

1. Birds of prey. 2. Birds of prey—Conservation. 3. Wildlife management.

I. Bird, David M. (David Michael), 1949- II. Title: Raptor management techniques manual.

QL696.F3R366 2007 639.9’789 C2007-904971-0

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of Hancock House Publishers.
Printed in China — SINOBLE

Copy editing: Theresa Laviolette

Production: Ingrid Luters
Cover design: Ingrid Luters

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the

Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.

Published simultaneously in Canada and the United States by

HANCOCK HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD.

19313 Zero Avenue, Surrey, B.C. Canada V3S 9R9
(604) 538-1114 Fax (604) 538-2262
HANCOCK HOUSE PUBLISHERS
1431 Harrison Avenue, Blaine, WA U.S.A 98230-5005
(604) 538-1114 Fax (604) 538-2262
Website: www.hancockhouse.com
Email: [email protected]
Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1. The Raptor Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Lloyd Kiff, Rob G. Bijlsma, Lucia Liu Severinghaus, and Jevgeni Shergalin
2. Raptor Identification, Ageing, and Sexing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
William S. Clark
3. Systematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Michael Wink
4. Study Design, Data Management, Analysis, and Presentation . . . . . . . 73
James C. Bednarz
5. Survey Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
David E. Andersen
6. Migration Counts and Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Keith L. Bildstein, Jeff P. Smith, and Reuven Yosef
7. Behavioral Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Giorgia Gaibani and Davide Csermely
8. Food Habits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Carl D. Marti, Marc Bechard, and Fabian M. Jacksic
9. Habitat Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Luis Tapia, Patricia L. Kennedy, and R. William Mannan
10. Accessing Nests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Joel E. Pagel and Russell K. Thorstrom
11. Assessing Nesting Success and Productivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Karen Steenhof and Ian Newton
12. Capture Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Peter H. Bloom, William S. Clark, and Jeff W. Kidd
13. Marking Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Daniel E. Varland, John A. Smallwood, Leonard S. Young, and Michael N. Kochert
14. Spatial Tracking
A. Radio Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Sean S. Walls and Robert E. Kenward
B. Satellite Tracking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Bernd-U. Meyburg and Mark R. Fuller
C. Stable Isotopes and Trace Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Keith A. Hobson
6

15. Energetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Charles R. Blem
16. Physiology
A. Gastrointestinal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
David C. Houston and Gary E. Duke
B. Hematological . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Deborah J. Monks and Neil A. Forbes
C. Reproductive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Juan Blanco, David M. Bird, and Jamie H. Samour
17. Pathology
A. Disease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
John E. Cooper
B. Ectoparasites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
James R. Philips
C. Endoparasites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
Oliver Krone
18. Toxicology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Charles J. Henny and John E. Elliott
19. Reducing Management and Research Disturbance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Robert N. Rosenfield, James W. Grier, and Richard W. Fyfe
20. Mitigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Richard E. Harness
21. Captive Breeding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Joseph B. Platt, David M. Bird, and Lina Bardo
22. Augmenting Wild Populations and Food Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401
Juan José Negro, José Hernán Sarasola, and John H. Barclay
23. Rehabilitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Patrick T. Redig, Lori Arent, Hugo Lopes, and Luis Cruz
24. Public Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423
Jemima Parry-Jones, Mike Nicholls, and Gail C. Farmer
25. Legal Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437
Brian A. Millsap, Margaret E. Cooper, and Geoffrey Holroyd

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
The Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
 7

Foreword
This is the RAPTOR RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Welcome to the 2nd edition of the Raptor Management George Balanchine put it, “Behind every good idea lies
Techniques Manual, now renamed Raptor Research and horrible, exhausting work. You knock your brains out
Management Techniques. I can think of no more appro- and nothing comes. ... But after you’ve worked hard
priate undertaking for The Raptor Research Foundation, enough, the work gradually starts taking shape.”
Inc. (RRF) than to update this terrific reference, first (Volkov 1985, page 199 in Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky:
published by the National Wildlife Federation in 1987. Interviews with George Balanchine. Simon and Shuster,
RRF’s purpose is to stimulate the dissemination of New York, New York, USA.). Take advantage of the
information concerning raptorial birds among interested experience gathered in these pages. For established
parties worldwide and to promote a better public under- practitioners, this is a tremendous resource to brush up
standing and appreciation of the value of birds of prey. on technique and review recent developments. For
Thus, no other endeavor could be more central to RRF’s those at the start of their careers, this is a toolbox with
raison d’etre, or more expressive of the manner in which to build a life’s body of work, implements shaped
which knowledge within our profession is carefully for your use by those who have walked the road you are
passed from one generation to the next. The foundation standing on.
of our professional capability is and always will be I am proud and delighted that RRF has taken on
technique: the methods we apply to craft our investiga- responsibility for this manual. I thank the National
tions and management programs, to understand and Wildlife Federation for the legacy they have passed to
conserve birds of prey. us, congratulate David and Keith on a job well done,
Editors David Bird and Keith Bildstein, experts in and bow in appreciation to the authors who have made
their own right, have assembled a distinguished team of this 2nd edition a reality.
authors. The techniques they have synthesized are the
product of hundreds of lifetimes of hard-won experi-
ence, thousands upon thousands of hours of trial and LEONARD YOUNG, President
error, and tedious experimentation. As the ballet master, The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.
8

Preface

In 1987, the Raptor Information Center of the National Management Techniques is a bound work that is loose-
Wildlife Federation published the Raptor Management ly modeled after the highly acclaimed Bird Census
Techniques Manual. The work, which was edited by Techniques, second edition (2000) by Colin Bibby, Neil
Beth Giron Pendleton, Brian Millsap, Keith Cline, and Burgess, David Hill, and Simon Mustoe. Raptor
David Bird, was a 420-page manual consisting of 19 Research and Management Techniques is not intended
chapters divided into three sections: Field Research to be an all-inclusive manual or detailed “how-to” book,
Techniques, Management Techniques, and Laboratory but rather a review of the field with up-to-date informa-
Research Techniques. Each chapter was authored by tion on various techniques that is designed to provide
one or more experts in the field, and each was reviewed readers with a general overview of the field. That said,
by two independent referees. Priced at $25 U.S., the each chapter has numerous references that will direct
book sold out quickly. Although the Raptor Manage- readers to additional sources for details and cautions
ment Techniques Manual was published in binder for- regarding various field and laboratory techniques and
mat with the expectation that individual chapters would management tools.
be updated and replaced as warranted, this never The first four chapters, one each on the raptor liter-
occurred. The Raptor Information Center was disband- ature, raptor systematics, raptor identification, and
ed in the 1990s. study design, data analysis, and the presentation of
In 2000, the Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) results, provide a general overview of the field of raptor
approached the National Wildlife Federation and was research. The next ten chapters provide insights into
given permission to pursue the publication of a thor- field-study techniques, including surveying and moni-
oughly updated version of the manual. RRF then asked toring, behavioral studies, diet analysis, habitat sam-
the two of us to solicit authors for individual chapters, pling, accessing nests and assessing nest success, cap-
edit the new work, and oversee its publication. The ture and marking techniques, and spatial tracking. Four
book before you, Raptor Research and Management additional chapters provide information on the energet-
Techniques, is the result of these efforts. ics, physiology, pathology, and toxicology of raptors;
When we as editors took on this task, our aims and five more cover reducing management and researcher
objectives were to produce a comprehensive work that disturbance, mitigation, captive breeding, the augmen-
reflected the state of the art in raptor research and man- tation of wild populations, and rehabilitation. The work
agement techniques, and to increase the geographic concludes with chapters on public education and legal
scope of the book beyond North America. We also considerations. Although the book focuses on questions
wanted to produce a high-quality, attractive, and reason- of importance to management and conservation, the sci-
ably priced book that would be used globally by raptor entific approach laid out at the beginning of the work,
researchers and conservationists and natural-resource and the field and laboratory study techniques described
managers. Unlike its predecessor, Raptor Research and thereafter, provide researchers with important tools for
 PREFACE 9

better understanding the basic biology of the birds as Management Techniques as a way to enhance standard-
well. ization in the field, and in so doing, increase our ability
We use the recommended English names of birds to compare our findings with those of others. We also
(Gill and Wright 2006, Birds of the World: recommend- view the book as a way to share both past successes and
ed English names. Princeton University Press, Prince- failures, and to speed improvement in our research and
ton, NJ, USA) throughout, together with their binomials management techniques. Overall, we hope that like its
(at first mention) in each chapter. The appendix pro- predecessor, Raptor Research and Management Tech-
vides an alphabetical list of the recommended English niques will stand the test of time and help those who
names of all diurnal raptors and other birds mentioned study and manage birds of prey protect them better.
in the text, together with their binomials.
We view the publication of Raptor Research and DAVID M. BIRD and KEITH L. BILDSTEIN

We dedicate this volume in memory of our mentors,

Richard “Butch” Olendorff and Frances “Fran” Hamerstrom.
10

Acknowledgments

Raptor Research and Management Techniques is the cul- In addition to those mentioned above, a number of
mination of more than four years of hard work by a large individuals worked overtime to ensure a well-written
number of individuals and organizations. Without their document. We thank all of the authors and co-authors of
expertise the book would not have been possible. Almost the work who took time from their professional and per-
all participants worked as volunteers on this project. We sonal lives to, in some cases, meet deadlines, and in all
thank them all for helping us bring this volume—which cases, provide us with the essential text of the work. Adri-
represents the discipline’s communal knowledge on the an Aebischer, Nigel Barton, Rob Bennetts, Pete Bloom,
subject—to fruition. Patricia Bright, Dale Clayton, Chris Farmer, Michael Fry,
We particularly are indebted to four organizations, an Lynda Gibbons, Laurie Goodrich, Carole Griffiths, Nigel
optics company, and a publishing house, all of which Harcourt-Brown, Mike Hart, Elwood Hill, Grainger
directly and indirectly helped us achieve our goals. The Hunt, Ron Jackman, Erkki Korpimaki, Brian Latta, Tim-
National Wildlife Federation (NWF) was the driving othy Meehan, Mark Pokras, Alexandre Roulin, Karen
force behind the predecessor of this work. NWF’s Raptor Steenhof, William Stout, Russell Thorstrom, Michael
Information Center conceived and published the widely Wallace, and Robert Zink served as technical referees for
acclaimed Raptor Management Techniques Manual, one or more of the chapters. Assistant editors, David Bar-
which forms the foundation upon which Raptor Research ber and Andrea Zimmerman, served admirably, both as
and Management Techniques was written and edited. copy editors and as content editors on the project. Kristen
NWF’s willingness to allow us to use this seminal work Naimoli and Michele Pilzer read and commented upon
as the basis for our own work was critical to initiating the most of the chapters. Mike Wallace and Greg Septon are
project. The Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) provid- thanked for providing photographic material for the
ed the editors with the authority to use its good name cover. Lindsay Zemba helped proof the page galleys.
when soliciting authors for the project, and acts as the David Hancock, Theresa Laviolette, and Ingrid Luters at
work’s principal sponsor. The Department of Natural Hancock House shepherded our manuscript through to
Resource Sciences of McGill University and Hawk publication. Finally, we thank our family, friends, and
Mountain Sanctuary provided the editors and the assis- loved ones for putting up with our distractions during the
tant editors of this work the time and logistic support editorial process.
needed to prepare it for the publishing house. Swarovski That said, we apologize in advance, first for any
Optics provided the editors with a generous grant to help errors that have crept into the work, and second, to any-
defer travel costs incurred in soliciting authors, reporting one who helped on the project, but whose efforts we have
to RRF, and meeting together when necessary to com- overlooked above.
plete the project. Hancock House Publishers Ltd. was
willing to work with the editors in producing a world- DAVID M. BIRD KEITH L. BILDSTEIN
class presentation of the finished product. We thank all of Avian Science and Acopian Center for
Conservation Centre Conservation Learning
these organizations and companies for their stalwart sup- McGill University Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
port and patience. Ste. Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania
 11

The Raptor Literature 1

LLOYD F. KIFF relevant raptor literature, rather than providing a thor-

The Peregrine Fund, ough historical review. We focus on regions most famil-
5668 W. Flying Hawk Lane, Boise, ID 83709 U.S.A. iar to us, and have touched lightly on the raptor litera-
ture of some parts of the world.
ROB G. BIJLSMA Raptor researchers suffer from two chronic prob-
Doldersummerweg 1, 7983 LD Wapse, The Netherlands lems: too little information and too much information.
Traditionally, most researchers, regardless of their dis-
LUCIA LIU SEVERINGHAUS cipline, have suffered from a lack of access to the whole
Research Center for Biodiversity, spectrum of global literature. Few libraries offer com-
Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan 115 prehensive coverage of all types of raptor literature, and
even now, the major online abstracting services,
JEVGENI SHERGALIN although extremely valuable, do not yet provide access
Falconry Heritage Trust, to the full text of most articles. Language differences
P.O. Box 19, Carmarthen, Dyfed SA335YL, U.K. also have posed perennial barriers to communication,
and few, if any, abstracting services adequately cover
the literature in all of the world’s major languages.
Now, with a flood of information on its way onto
INTRODUCTION the worldwide web, we run the risk of descending from
the Information Age into a state of information chaos.
We are currently experiencing a dramatic change in As a result, raptor literature is becoming increasingly
scholarly disciplines, as we shift from traditional print vast and amorphous. In his chapter on this topic in the
publications to electronic forms of communication. first edition of this manual, LeFranc (1987) stated that
During this transition, many venerable journals are pro- approximately 370 and 1,030 raptor-related publica-
ducing parallel electronic versions and others are com- tions were listed in the 1970 and 1980 issues of Wildlife
pletely discontinuing their print versions. Many Review, respectively. By now, we suspect that at least
libraries are discarding large quantities of paper copies three times as many useful raptor-related articles are
of infrequently consulted publications and turning being published annually. It is impossible for any but
instead to electronic text, data storage, and information the world’s largest research libraries to keep pace with
transfer. Simply put, the world of information storage this torrent of information, yet staying abreast of current
and transfer is a moving target. studies is a prerequisite for effective research on raptors
That said, this chapter provides a brief overview of or any other topic.
important recent global raptor literature, lists the major Although the Internet makes it possible to gain
technical journals with useful raptor content, and high- access to an enormous amount of information, users
lights the most important databases containing raptor may find it difficult to deal with the overwhelming mass
literature. Emphasis is on identifying entry points into of detail that has accumulated on the web, much of it
12 THE RAPTOR LITERATURE

trivial, redundant, or unrelated. For example, a recent intended for both scientific and lay audiences, and
(July 2006) search on the term “falcon” using Google include reference works on families and species, hand-
yielded a total of 53,200,000 hits! Refining the search to books, encyclopedias, review articles, bibliographies,
“Peregrine Falcon” resulted in 2,860,000 matches. Nar- and most popular magazine articles. Appendix 1 lists
rowing the search to “Peregrine Falcon eggshells” still journals that regularly publish papers about raptors.
yielded 33,900 matches. For researchers, the secondary literature serves as
Clearly, plowing through this sea of information is an invaluable gateway to the primary literature. Howev-
unworkable for the average raptor researcher. Efficiency er, because of the inevitable errors in transcription,
of information transfer depends upon its organization; omissions, and misguided nuances of interpretation that
thus, focused databases and indexes are worth their find their way into handbooks and review volumes,
weight in gold. Such schemes are now appearing on researchers and reviewers always should consult the
many fronts, but someone must pay for the work. Thus, original sources of data cited in their papers whenever
the most comprehensive literature-abstracting services possible.
require subscription fees, which can be prohibitively
high for most individual users and smaller institutions.
Some even require a fee to publish on the web. The
The Raptor Literature by Topic
Entomological Society of America, for example, recent- General treatments. There are now scores of books on
ly began charging authors, who are willing to pay for the raptors on the market intended for a general audience,
privilege, immediate web access for their papers. If this but probably the best introduction to the natural history
results in the cancellation of many print subscriptions, and conservation of birds of prey is the one edited by
the price of this service will increase (Walker 2006). Newton and Olsen (1990), which manages to be popu-
Ultimately, this approach may lead to the demise of lar and authoritative. The two-volume set on hawks,
paper publications and traditional subscriptions. At the eagles and falcons of the world by Brown and Amadon
very least, a market-driven transition to open access (1968) is a classic and, although a bit dated, remains an
(albeit for a fee) to all articles, at least those in major sci- essential part of any raptor library. The Handbook of
entific journals, is likely. But as Worlock (2006) warns, Birds of the World volumes treating diurnal birds of
“Outside the consortia, and in the less-developed world, prey and owls (del Hoyo et al. 1994, 1999) provide
a genuine poverty of access is emerging as never before, good overviews of each raptor family, concise species
with the scholarly rich and poor divided sharply on accounts, and nice illustrations of all species.
access and on the ability to stay abreast of the fast-mov- It would be difficult to overestimate the importance
ing research base.” We hope that solutions are found to of the body of work published by the World Working
such inequities. And indeed, some of the developing sys- Group on Birds of Prey and Owls (WWGBPO). Now 30
tems described in this chapter hold that promise. years old, this group was originally part of the Interna-
tional Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP), which sup-
ported world conferences on raptors in 1975 and 1982
OVERVIEW OF THE RAPTOR (Chancellor 1975, Newton and Chancellor 1985). Sub-
LITERATURE sequently, the WWGBPO became independent of ICBP,
and under the guidance of Bernd Meyburg, has met in
different countries at intervals of a few years, with the
Types of Literature proceedings of each meeting usually being edited by
In general, scholarly literature falls into two broad cat- Meyburg and Robin Chancellor and published in ever-
egories, “primary literature,” which presents original thickening volumes (Meyburg and Chancellor 1989,
findings and ideas and is intended for a scientific audi- 1994; Chancellor et al. 1998, Chancellor and Meyburg
ence, and “secondary literature,” which consists of gen- 2000, 2004; Yosef et al. 2002). The WWGBPO, which
eral works such as compilations, reviews, or other syn- now claims over 3,000 members worldwide, also pub-
theses of information, derived from primary sources. lished four volumes of Bird of Prey Bulletin, presenting
The former includes books, journals, symposia vol- the results of regional conferences, and a volume
umes, dissertations, theses, and abstracts, as well as specifically devoted to eagles (Meyburg and Chancellor
unpublished reports, which often are referred to as the 1996). In aggregate, these publications provide the best
“gray literature.” Secondary literature publications are available overview of global raptor conservation and
 THE RAPTOR LITERATURE 13

research directions over the past three decades, and the Poyser (now under the imprint of A&C Black), present-
meetings themselves have created a world community ly with nine monographs on diurnal raptors and two on
of raptor researchers. owl species, and the Neue Brehm-Bücherei series,
Families and groups of raptors. Presently, the best which was started in 1948 by Ziemsen Verlag in what
general overviews of the diurnal birds of prey are the was then East Germany and continued since 1992 by
books by Ferguson-Lees and Christie (2001, 2005), Westarp Wissenschaften after the reunion of both Ger-
which contain an enormous amount of useful informa- manies. This scholarly series includes monographs on at
tion and attractive color plates, illustrating multiple least 17 diurnal raptor and eight owl species, some of
plumages of each species. The odd disconnect between which are rather outdated, while others have been
the in-text citations and the bibliographies of these updated or entirely rewritten. Among titles in the former
books is disconcerting, but these two volumes remain series, those by Newton (1986) on the Eurasian Spar-
useful as quick references. A similar volume on owls by rowhawk (Accipiter nisus) and Ratcliffe (1993) on the
König et al. (1999) is the best overview of those fami- Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) are especially
lies, including detailed information on owl systematics important. Arlequin Press also has produced a smaller,
based on recent molecular genetics studies. but important, series of monographs on several British
Among the many general treatments of owls, those raptor species (e.g., Carter 2001).
by Mikkola (1983), Voous (1988), and Duncan (2003) The complete list of important raptor species mono-
are particularly outstanding. World conferences on owls graphs is obviously too long to enumerate here, but a
similar to those of the WWGBPO for all raptors have few worth special mention (and to illustrate their vari-
led to the publication of several information-rich pro- ety) include those on the California Condor (Gymnogyps
ceedings volumes (Nero et al. 1987, Duncan et al. 1997, californianus) (Koford 1953), Osprey (Pandion haliae-
Newton et al. 2002). tus) (Poole 1989), African Fish Eagle (Haliaeetus vocif-
There are a number of works on both Old and New er) (Brown 1980), Bald Eagle (H. leucocephalus) (Hunt
World vultures, but the most prominent, by far, is the et al. 1992), Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) (Ter-
lavish book on African vultures by Mundy et al. (1992), rasse 2001), Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti)
which combines much original information and superb (Ferrer 2001), Verreaux’s Eagle (A. verreauxii) (Gargett
production values. The First International Symposium 1990), Eleonora’s Falcon (F. eleonorae) (Walter 1979),
on Vultures (both Old and New World) resulted in a still Peregrine Falcon (Hickey 1969, Monneret 2000, Rock-
useful book (Wilbur and Jackson 1983). A new book on enbauch 1998, 2002), Black Shaheen Falcon (F. p. pere-
the vultures of Georgia and the Caucasus (Gavashel- grinator) (Döttlinger 2002), Gyrfalcon (F. rusticolus)
ishvili 2005) deserves mention, as does the one on (Ford 1999, Potapov and Sale 2005), Barn Owl (Tyto
European vultures by Baumgart (2001). alba) (Taylor 1994), and Eastern Screech-Owl (Megas-
Genera. Aside from numerous popular books, cops asio) (Gehlbach 1994).
there are relatively few published works on particular Systematics. Until recently, the principal world
genera of raptors. Two excellent examples, however, authority on diurnal raptor taxonomy was the late Dean
are the overview by Simmons (2000) of the behavior Amadon of the American Museum of Natural History.
and ecology of harriers (Circus), which also has impor- Somewhat by default, the 1968 Brown and Amadon
tant taxonomic implications, and Cade’s comprehen- volumes served as the best single source for diurnal rap-
sive treatment of the genus Falco (Cade 1982), which tor taxonomy until the publication of the revised edition
is both attractive and informative. Among monographs of the falconiforms volume of Peters’ Checklist of Birds
of its type, Wattel’s (1973) work on the systematics of of the World. The treatment there (Stresemann and
the genus Accipiter was unusually thorough and still Amadon 1979) was based on an early 1960s manuscript
relevant. by Erwin Stresemann with subsequent modifications by
Single species. There are many excellent books on Amadon. Later, Amadon and Bull (1988) suggested
single raptor species, some reporting on the results of additional changes in diurnal raptor taxonomy and pro-
studies extending for many years, and such monographs vided a global list of Otus species in the same volume.
represent one of the strongest components of scientific At the outset of the molecular age in systematics, Sib-
raptor literature. Among several important (and ongo- ley and Monroe (1990) published a new world avian
ing) series of species monographs, two stand out from taxonomy, based largely on their findings using DNA
the rest, including those published by T. and A.D. hybridization techniques, and they recommended major
14 THE RAPTOR LITERATURE

changes in the phylogenetic arrangement of avian fam- tions. The National Wildlife Federation published useful
ilies. In a companion volume (Sibley and Ahlquist but now dated bibliographies on owls of the world (Clark
1990), there is an extremely useful history of the classi- et al. 1978), Bald Eagle (Lincer et al. 1979), Golden
fication of all avian groups, including raptors, based on Eagle (A. chrysaetos) (LeFranc and Clark 1983), and
traditional morphological characters. Peregrine Falcon (Porter et al. 1987). The bibliography of
The nomenclature, sequence, and limits of species German literature on raptors and owls for 1945-95 pro-
in the respective volumes of Handbook of Birds of the duced by Mammen et al. (1997) contained 6,940 entries,
World (del Hoyo et al. 1994, 1999) for falconiforms and and updates and corrections are published at
strigiforms have been generally followed since their http://www.greifvogelmonitoring.de. By now, the best
publication, but there are conspicuous departures in the bibliographic resources on raptors are various online
books by Ferguson-Lees and Christie (2001, 2005), databases described in the last section, and the era of
some of which, but not all, reflect advances in taxonom- massive printed bibliographies is probably over.
ic knowledge. Even if the new family sequence suggest- Disease and medicine. Over the past two decades,
ed by Sibley has not enjoyed universal acceptance, he the topic of raptor biomedicine has virtually become a
correctly predicted that molecular studies would soon sub-discipline of veterinary medicine, thanks to height-
rule the day in systematics. Among recent printed vol- ened interest in birds of prey by rehabilitators, conser-
umes, the world bird list du jour is the one edited by vationists, and falconers. Two of the leaders in this field
Dickinson (2003) with input from a respected commit- have been Patrick Redig at The Raptor Center at the
tee of regional specialists. Their treatment is a transi- University of Minnesota (see Redig 1993) and John
tional mixture based on traditional integration of mor- Cooper, a British pathologist with various appointments
phological and behavioral characters and some newer in Europe, South America and Africa, who has authored
findings from molecular genetics, primarily from stud- or edited several important volumes on raptor medicine
ies of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. For diurnal rap- (e.g., Cooper 2002, 2003). Other recent volumes on this
tors, this list already has been rendered partially obso- topic worth mention are the work by Lumeij (2000),
lete by major changes in generic- and species-level rap- which contains an extensive bibliography, and the color
tor taxonomy suggested by studies from several molec- atlas by Wernery et al. (2004). In addition, several
ular labs (e.g., those of Helbig et al. [2005] and Lerner researchers working in facilities on the Arabian Penin-
and Mindell [2005]). This is an extremely fast-moving sula continue to publish many important studies in this
field and perhaps the best strategy to keep up with new field, particularly in the journal Falco.
findings until a new authoritative list appears is to con- Migration. The migration of raptors is one of the
sult web-based databases, e.g., the Global Raptor Infor- most interesting and observable aspects of their biology,
mation Network (www.globalraptors.org). and an increasing amount of attention has been paid to
For North American species, successive editions of this topic in recent decades, especially with the emer-
the AOU Check-list (AOU 1998) have long been the gence of numerous raptor observatories along the major
undisputed authority for nomenclature and range migratory pathways in the world. Among the most
descriptions since the first one was published in 1886. important publications on raptor migration are reviews
Periodic supplements to the latest edition of the check- of the behavior and ecology of migrating raptors by
list are posted on the AOU’s website (http:// Kerlinger (1989) and Bildstein (2006), and the broad
www.aou.org), and an equivalent list of South American global overviews by Zalles and Bildstein (2000) and
bird species is in preparation by an international com- Bildstein and Zalles (2005). In Israel, the study by
mittee headed by Van Remsen (www.aou. org/check- Spaar (1996) and the comprehensive summary of 30
list/south.php3). years of field research on migrating raptors by Shirihai
Bibliographies. Olendorff and Olendorff (1968-70) et al. (2000) are especially useful.
prepared one of the first comprehensive bibliographies Bernd and Chris Meyburg and their colleagues pio-
on birds of prey in the modern era. It contained 7,492 neered the use of satellite telemetry to study raptor
citations, but covered only English-language titles. The migration in several Old World eagle species (e.g.,
senior author later collaborated with Dean Amadon and Meyburg and Meyburg 1999, Meyburg et al. 2005), and
Saul Frank to produce an annotated bibliography of rap- other outstanding ongoing programs in Europe are men-
tor books in English and western European languages tioned in the section on the Palearctic Region below. In
(Olendorff et al. 1995) that includes informative annota- North America, the satellite telemetry studies by Mark
 THE RAPTOR LITERATURE 15

Martell and his colleagues on the Osprey (Martell et al. Techniques. Standardization of field methods
2001) and those on Golden Eagles and Peregrine Fal- through the publication of manuals upgraded the quali-
cons by Bill Seegar (e.g., Seegar et al. 1996) are espe- ty and scope of raptor studies, enabled reliable between-
cially noteworthy. study comparisons, and boosted atlas work and long-
Some conservation topics. For endangered and term censuses. Some of the most useful texts on tech-
threatened raptors globally, the most important sum- niques are those of Berthold et al. (1974), Ralph and
maries are those produced under the direction of BirdLife Scott (1981), Hustings et al. (1985), Koskimies and
International biologists, Nigel Collar and Allison Stat- Väisänen (1991), Gilbert et al. (1998), Bibby et al.
tersfield (Collar and Stuart 1985, Collar et al. 1992, 1994, (2000), and Südbeck et al. (2005). Manuals specifically
2001; Stattersfield and Cooper 2000). These works have targeted at raptors further contributed to standardization
set a high standard for their accuracy, thoroughness, and and quantification of field methods, including März
recommended conservation actions. More up-to-date (1987) and Bijlsma (1997). An earlier version of this
information on threatened raptors can be found on the manual (Giron Pendleton et al. 1987) published by the
BirdLife International Globally Threatened Bird Species National Wildlife Federation quickly sold out, but lived
Database website (www.birdlife.org/data zone) and on on through numerous photocopies of its chapters by
the Global Raptor Information Network website. biologists and graduate students working on raptors.
The chronic problem of birds striking powerlines,
or being electrocuted by them, was addressed by a still-
current manual published by the Raptor Research Foun-
The Raptor Literature by Region
dation (Avian Power Line Interaction Committee 1996) Afrotropical. For raptor researchers, the most important
and an excellent symposium volume on this topic pro- journals for the whole African continent are Bulletin of
duced in Spain (Ferrer and Janss 1999). The problem of the African Bird Club, Gabar, and Ostrich. The former
bird hazards to aircraft is one of relevance to raptor journal, which is published in the United Kingdom, is
species, particularly along migration routes, and the the best source for new distributional and natural histo-
proceedings of an international seminar on this topic in ry information on African raptors. Gabar (known for a
the Middle East were reported by Leshem et al. (1999). few years as Journal of African Raptor Biology) con-
An earlier work by Leshem and Bahat (1994) provides tains many papers of high quality, and Ostrich is one of
a fascinating account of some solutions to this problem the leading scholarly ornithological journals in the
in Israel. world. Studies of more global interest often are pub-
The reviews by Risebrough (1986) and Cooke et al. lished in prominent European and American journals,
(1982) give excellent summaries of the effects of including Alauda, The Auk, Bulletin of the British
organochlorine contaminants, especially the eggshell- Ornithologists’ Club, Ibis, Journal of Avian Biology,
thinning metabolite, DDE, on raptors and other birds and Journal of Ornithology. Important regional journals
and should be required reading for anyone uninformed include The Babbler (Botswana), Journal of East Africa
about the extent of these threats to bird populations. A Natural History, Kenya Birds, and Scopus (East Africa),
particularly outstanding case history of how these con- Mirafra and Promerops (South Africa), Malimbus
taminants have affected a raptor is that of Helander et (West Africa), Zambia Bird Report (Zambia), and Hon-
al. (2002) on the White-tailed Eagle (H. albicilla) in eyguide (Zimbabwe). The popular magazine, Africa –
Sweden, and the numerous papers by Ian Newton and Birds & Birding, often contains raptor articles with orig-
his colleagues on Eurasian Sparrowhawks and other inal information and superb photographs. Vulture News,
British raptors are also essential reading on this topic. which is published in South African by the Vulture
As summarized by Cade (2000), captive breeding Study Group, has a global scope, but the majority of
and reintroduction projects have been an essential tool articles and news snippets are on African species.
in the recovery of many formerly endangered raptor The raptor volume of the monumental Birds of
populations. Several techniques manuals on managing Africa series (Brown et al. 1982) still represents an
captive and released falcons have been published by excellent source on raptors of the entire continent, and
The Peregrine Fund, including Sherrod et al. (1982), the earlier atlas edited by Snow (1978) continues to be
Cade et al. (1988), and Weaver and Cade (1991), as well useful, albeit a bit dated by now. The two-volume atlas
as a similar manual on enhancing wild raptor popula- of southern African birds (Harrison et al. 1997) includes
tions, including owls, by Marti (2002). extensive species accounts by leading authorities on
16 THE RAPTOR LITERATURE

each raptor species, and it is one of the best examples of Since 1991, The Peregrine Fund has conducted
this genre anywhere. research on Madagascar raptors, with particular empha-
Per capita, South Africa has one of the most produc- sis on the endangered Madagascar Fish Eagle (Haliaee-
tive communities of raptor researchers in the world, and tus vociferoides) and on training local researchers. To
it enjoys a wealth of excellent books on diurnal birds of date, 16 Master’s degrees and three Ph.Ds have been
prey and owls. One edition of the standard reference, earned by participants in this project, and 59 peer-
Austin Roberts’s Birds of South Africa, originally pub- reviewed papers have been produced. Particularly
lished in 1940, has been in print for the past 65 years. notable dissertations include those of Berkelman
The latest (7th) edition (Hockey et al. 2005) is by far the (1997), René de Roland (2000), and Tingay (2005).
most elaborate to date, having more detailed species Several recent workshops have been held in South
accounts by specialists on each species, which provide Africa to create conservation plans for southern African
thorough, up-to-date overviews on southern African vultures (Boshoff et al. 1998) and other raptors (Ander-
raptors. son and Kruger 2004), and a similar meeting on vulture
Alan Kemp produced an attractive overview of the conservation in East Africa occurred in 2004 (Virani
owls of southern Africa (Kemp 1987) and with his wife, and Muchai 2004).
Meg, a concise guide to the diurnal birds of prey of the Australasia. This region enjoys a rich selection of
entire continent and the adjacent islands (Kemp and technical journals of interest to raptor researchers
Kemp 1998). Another useful field guide dealing specif- including the internationally important publications,
ically with southern African raptors is Allan (1996). The Emu (published by Birds -Australia) and Notornis (pub-
general treatment of African raptors (including owls) by lished by the Ornithological Society of New Zealand).
Brown (1970) still makes interesting reading, and the The Australasian Raptor Association produces a jour-
classic books by Peter Steyn on southern African raptor nal, Boobook, and a newsletter, Circus, which are
species (Steyn 1974, 1982, 1984) contain a wealth of devoted solely to raptor topics. Important regional jour-
information, coupled with many pleasing photographs. nals include Australian Field Ornithology and Corella,
One of the most thorough analyses of the status of the both with articles drawn from all parts of the country,
raptors of a particular district in Africa was reported by and South Australian Birds (South Australia), Sunbird
Tarboton and Allan (1984), and the former author also (Queensland), and VORG Notes (Victoria) focusing on
produced nice volumes on southern African owls (Tar- the avifauna of particular states.
boton and Erasmus 1998) and on African diurnal prey in Olsen’s (1995) comprehensive book on Australian
general (Tarboton 1990). An overview of ring recover- raptors is one of the finest examples of a country treat-
ies of 38 diurnal and 3 nocturnal raptor species, based ment of raptors, or for that matter, any group of birds,
on 50 years of banding by SAFRING, is available for and is the logical starting point for anyone interested in
southern Africa (Oatley et al. 1998). Australian diurnal birds of prey. Several editions of the
Elsewhere in Africa, the recent field guide by Bor- modest field guides to Australian birds of prey by Con-
row and Demey (2001) organized much new informa- don (1970) and another with nice color plates by Mor-
tion on raptors and other birds of this sparsely studied ris (1976) were published prior to the more recent and
region, and among several recent books on East African extensive guide by Debus (1998). The latter book pro-
birds, those on Ugandan birds by Carswell et al. (2005) vides a concise and useful introduction to Australian
and the field guide to East African birds by Stevenson diurnal birds of prey, and the text (and some plates) was
and Fanshawe (2002) are among the most useful. distilled from the exhaustive species accounts in the
Beginning in the 1970s, Jean-Marc Thiollay has inten- Handbook of Australian, New Zealand, and Antarctic
sively studied diurnal raptors in West Africa, mainly in Birds (Marchant and Higgins 1993). The more recent
the palm savanna and gallery forests of the Lamto handbook volume on Western Australian birds (John-
Reserve in central Ivory Coast (Thiollay 1976), but also stone and Storr 1998) also contains highly detailed
including much of the Sahelian zone from Mali through information on the birds of prey in that state. Australia
Burkina Faso and Niger eastwards to Chad and has enjoyed the riches of several decades of comprehen-
Cameroon (Thiollay 1977). Thiollay’s baseline infor- sive avian atlas projects, resulting in large volumes
mation led to his recent startling discovery of recent (Blakers et al. 1984, Barrett et al. 2003) containing
severe population declines in nearly all raptor species in valuable information on the distribution and seasonal
this large region (Thiollay 2001, 2006). movements of raptors.
 THE RAPTOR LITERATURE 17

Non-technical books on Australian raptors include Research and Conservation Network (ARRCN) in 1998
those by Cupper and Cupper (1981) on hawks and Hol- through the efforts of Toru Yamazaki and his colleagues
lands (1991, 2003) on owls (and other nocturnal birds) in Japan recently has created a thriving community of
and eagles, hawks and falcons, respectively. The latter raptor researchers in this part of the world. ARRCN has
now is in its second edition and includes excellent pho- held four raptor symposia in different countries, with
tographs and concise species accounts, as well as enter- more planned, and the proceedings and abstracts from
taining anecdotal accounts of the author’s pursuit of these meetings (e.g., Ichinose et al. 2000) contain much
Australian raptors. valuable information. The ARRCN also published three
The Australasian Raptor Association has held con- issues of a journal, Asian Raptors, reporting original
ferences leading to two proceedings volumes (Olsen studies.
1989, Czechura and Debus 1997) and, with BirdLife The finding that the pharmaceutical drug,
Australia, supported an important study on the relative diclofenac (a painkiller administered to aging live-
abundance and seasonal movements of Australian Fal- stock), is responsible for the drastic decline of three for-
coniformes from 1986-90 (Baker-Gabb and Steele merly abundant Gyps vultures in India, Pakistan, and
1999). Nepal (Oaks et al. 2004) led to a surge in research on
Comprehensive information on the relatively few these species and a whole new subset of raptor literature
raptors in New Zealand is found in the Marchant and in the region. A recent paper by Cuthbert et al. (2006)
Higgins (1993) handbook. Brief general accounts on the appears to indicate similar problems for other vulture
raptors of New Guinea, including several poorly studied species, so this is a topic that may well see an increas-
and intriguing endemic species, are found in Coates ing amount of research interest in the future.
(1985) and Beehler et al. (1986), and those of nearby Collar et al. (1999) compiled a Red Data Book on
“Wallacea” (Sulawesi, Moluccas, and Lesser Sundas) in threatened birds of the Philippines, including raptors.
Coates and Bishop (1997), but no substantive work The plight of one of these, the endangered Philippine
dealing specifically with the raptors of these areas has Eagle (Pithecophaga jeffreyi), has generated much
been produced yet. international interest and led to extensive literature on
Indomalaysia. Important journals with raptor con- that species; a good recent overview can be found in
tent for this region include BirdingASIA (formerly Bul- Bueser et al. (2003). There also are numerous papers on
letin of the Oriental Bird Club) and Forktail, both pub- various aspects of the status and biology of another
lished by the Oriental Bird Club, based in the United globally endangered species, the Javan Hawk-Eagle
Kingdom. Regional journals include Journal of the (Spizaetus bartelsi) (van Balen et al. 1999, 2001).
Bombay Natural History Society, Journal of Indian Bird Middle East and Northern Africa. The journal
Records, and Pavo (India), Kukila (Indonesia), and Sandgrouse covers the Middle East and parts of con-
Malayan Nature Journal (Malaysia). tiguous Central Asia, including important updates on
The monumental 10-volume handbook series pro- the distribution and natural history of the region’s rap-
duced by Salim Ali and S. Dillon Ripley during the tors. The Bulletin of the African Bird Club fulfills a sim-
1970s and 1980s still serves as the best starting point for ilar role for northern Africa, including the Arabian
information on birds of the Indian subcontinent. The Peninsula. There have been regular updates on the sta-
text of the second edition is presented succinctly in a tus of the birds of Oman (Eriksen et al. 2003). Other
compact edition (Ali and Ripley 1987). The recent important regional journals are Podoces (Iran), Torgos
books on birds of the Indian subcontinent by Grimmett (Israel), Oman Bird News (Oman), Yelkovan (Turkey),
et al. (1999) and southern Asia by Rasmussen and and Emirates Bird Report (United Arab Emirates).
Anderton (2005) provide more up-to-date information The most important contributions to the knowledge
on the status and natural history of Indomalayan rap- of raptors in the Middle East have come from Israel.
tors. Useful raptor information also can be found in sev- The massive book on the birds of Israel by Shirihai
eral other recent avifaunal treatments, including those (1996) is unusually thorough and contains excellent
for the Malaysian Peninsula (Wells 1999), Philippines species accounts of raptors. The contributions of the
(Kennedy et al. 2000), and Sabah (Sheldon et al. 2001). International Birding & Research Center in Eilat, Israel
Although there is less published information on the to the knowledge of raptor migration through the Mid-
raptors of Southeast Asia than for other tropical regions dle East also have been important. For North Africa,
of the world, the recent creation of the Asian Raptor recent books on the birds of Algeria (Isenmann and
18 THE RAPTOR LITERATURE

Maoli 2000), Morocco (Thévenot et al. 2003), and information in state and provincial bird books, and, by
Tunisia (Isenmann et al. 2005) contain a wealth of now, there are excellent atlases of breeding bird distri-
information on raptors of the region, much of it previ- bution for most states and provinces, and even some
ously unreported. counties. Among the many compilations on North
Nearctic. The most important sources of primary lit- American birds of prey intended for a general audience,
erature on North American raptors are the Ornithologi- those by Johnsgard (1990, 2002) on hawks, eagles, and
cal Societies of North America (OSNA) journals, includ- falcons, and on owls, respectively, are the best.
ing The Auk, The Condor, Journal of Field Ornithology, Since the “endangered species” concept seized the
Journal of Raptor Research, and Wilson Journal of public imagination in the late 1960s and early 1970s, it
Ornithology (formerly The Wilson Bulletin). Many state has been interesting to observe the trend toward an
and provincial bird society journals (e.g., Blue Jay, Chat, inverse relationship between the size of species popula-
Florida Field Naturalist, Kingbird, Loon, Ontario Birds, tions and the amount of research conducted on them.
Oriole, and Passenger Pigeon) traditionally have been Thus, the Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis) is by now the
important outlets for natural history and distributional best-studied strigid in North America, and there are
notes. Regional “naturalist” journals include Canadian more publications on Peregrine Falcons and Bald
Field-Naturalist, Northwestern Naturalist, and South- Eagles than on any other diurnal raptor species on the
western Naturalist. North American raptor studies with continent.
broader significance also are frequently published in Biologists with Canadian and United States federal,
generalized biological journals, especially Conservation provincial, and state government agencies have pro-
Biology, Ecology, Journal of Wildlife Management, and duced a myriad of valuable reports on raptors over the
Wildlife Society Bulletin, and in ornithological journals past three or four decades. These include long-term
published in other countries, including Ibis, Journal of management studies of individual raptor species (e.g.,
Avian Biology, and Journal of Ecology. The Hawk the monographs on Peregrine Falcon ecology and man-
Migration Association of North America’s Hawk Migra- agement by Hayes and Buchanan [2002] and Craig and
tion Studies and the periodic reports of specific raptor Enderson [2004], on Spotted Owls by Gutiérrez and
observatories (e.g., Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Hawk- Carey [1985] and Verner et al. [1992]), and a detailed
Watch International, and the Golden Gate Raptor Obser- conservation assessment of three other owl species by
vatory) provide excellent coverage of raptor migration Hayward and Verner (1994). From 1975–1994, biolo-
trends across the continent. gists on the staff of the Snake River Birds of Prey
For several decades after their publication, the two National Conservation Area produced a valuable, albeit
Arthur Cleveland Bent volumes on the life histories of somewhat overlooked, series of annual reports (e.g.,
North American birds of prey (Bent 1937, 1938) pro- Steenhof 1994) and related publications on the birds of
vided the best overview of North American raptor biol- prey of Idaho reporting the results of many original and
ogy, despite their anecdotal tone. They were superseded long-term studies. Recovery plans for endangered
by the still valuable two volumes on raptors in the species often contain valuable information, especially
Handbook of North American Birds, edited by Palmer bibliographies, and the periodic Species Status Reports
(1988) on the diurnal birds of prey. The species by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife
accounts in the Bird of North America series, now avail- in Canada (COSEWIC) are especially thorough.
able online and being updated regularly, are the best Non-profit organizations also have made many sig-
overviews on the biology of individual North American nificant contributions to the North American raptor lit-
raptor species, and are effective gateways into the perti- erature. As mentioned above, the National Wildlife Fed-
nent primary literature. Over the past century, there eration published an earlier version of this manual
have been a number of useful pamphlets and small (Giron Pendleton et al. 1987) as well as useful species
books on the raptors of particular states and provinces, bibliographies, and also held five regional workshops
but two that rise above the rest are the ones by Glinski from 1987–1989 (e.g., Pendleton 1989), which con-
(1998) on Arizona raptors and the recent volume on tained much valuable information on the status and con-
California raptors by Peeters and Peeters (2005). Excel- servation of North American raptors. Another non-gov-
lent field guides on North American diurnal raptors ernmental organization (NGO), The Peregrine Fund,
have been produced by Clark and Wheeler (2001) and published a landmark volume on the Peregrine Falcon,
Wheeler (2003a, 2003b). There is much valuable raptor based on papers given at a symposium on that species in
 THE RAPTOR LITERATURE 19

1985 (Cade et al. 1987). Several individuals have con- (1945), and the Suriname avifauna by Haverschmidt
tributed to the North American raptor literature in an and Mees (1994) contain particularly detailed informa-
enduring way, including John and Frank Craighead, tion on birds of prey.
whose book Hawks, Owls, and Wildlife (Craighead and The most recent comprehensive summaries of the
Craighead 1956) stimulated an interest in raptors by conservation status of raptors in Mexico and South
many young people who later became professional rap- America are those by Bierregaard (1995 and 1998,
tor biologists, and Frances Hamerstrom, whose writings respectively). There are few country-specific books on
(e.g., Hamerstrom 1986) and many personal contacts Neotropical raptors, except for those for Mexico by
with young biologists with her husband, Fred, also were Urbina Torres (1996) and the more ambitious work by
strong influences on multiple generations of American Márquez et al. (2005) for Colombia. Although it is now
raptor enthusiasts (Corneli 2002). dated, the volume on Neotropical Falconiformes in the
In addition to publishing Journal of Raptor monumental Catalogue of Birds of the Americas (Hell-
Research and Raptor Research Reports, the Raptor mayr and Conover 1949) is still a rich source for the
Research Foundation has produced several important history of species-level taxonomy and earlier biblio-
symposium proceedings on North American raptors, graphic sources.
including those on the Bald Eagle and Osprey (Bird et The Peregrine Fund conducted the most ambitious
al. 1983), American Kestrel (F. sparverius) (Bird and single research project on Neotropical raptors to the
Bowman 1987), raptors in urban habitats (Bird et al. present time at Tikal National Park, El Petén,
1996), and the Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) Guatemala from 1988-96. During this period, detailed
(Lincer and Steenhof 1997). North American ornitho- studies were made of 19 species of falconiforms and
logical societies also have published important sym- two species of owls, resulting in 36 peer-reviewed
posia proceedings on raptors of special conservation papers and the completion of seven Master’s degrees.
interest. Two by the Cooper Ornithological Society The theses by Gerhardt (1991) and Thorstrom (1993)
were edited by Block et al. (1994) on the Northern made particularly important additions to our knowledge
Goshawk (A. gentilis) and Forsman et al. (1996) on the of two widely distributed, but poorly studied, Neotrop-
Spotted Owl. A similar volume on California Spotted ical raptor genera. A bibliography of publications of The
Owl population dynamics was published as an Ornitho- Peregrine Fund and its associates is posted on its web-
logical Monograph by the American Ornithologists’ site (www.peregrinefund.org), and PDF versions of all
Union (Franklin et al. 2004). An influential contribution Maya Project summaries, including over 100 unpub-
to the topic of reversed sexual size dimorphism in rap- lished reports, are available upon request at
tors (Snyder and Wiley 1976) was published earlier in [email protected].
the same series. The Peregrine Fund also created the listserver-
Neotropical. The most important ornithological based Neotropical Raptor Network, which has organ-
journals covering the Neotropical Region include Bul- ized two conferences on Neotropical raptors, one in
letin of the British Ornithologists Club, Cotinga, Jour- Panama in 2002 and another at Iguazú Falls, Argentina
nal of Raptor Research, and Ornitologia Neotropical. in June 2006. The abstracts from those meetings (avail-
Excellent journals with raptor content, focusing mostly able as PDFs from The Peregrine Fund) contain much
on the birds of particular countries include El Hornero exciting new information, especially on poorly studied
and Nuestras Aves (Argentina), Atualidades Ornitológ- species. Raptor aficionados held a similar symposium
icas, Boletim CEO and Revista Brasileira de Ornitolo- on Argentine raptor species in October 2004, and the
gia (Brazil), Boletín Chileno de Ornitologica (Chile), abstracts can be obtained from Sergio Seipke (seip
Boletín SAO and Ornitologia Colombiana (Colombia), [email protected]).
Zeledonia (Costa Rica), Acta Zoologica Mexicana The most active centers of raptor research in South
(Mexico), and Journal of Caribbean Ornithology (West America have been in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and
Indies). Ecuador, and numerous interesting dissertations and
Much important information on Neotropical raptors theses on raptors have been produced in these countries.
can be found in the species accounts of country and Details on these studies, some of which remain unpub-
regional avifaunal treatments. The books on Brazilian lished, can often be found in bibliographies of the
birds by Sick (1993), Argentine birds by Di Giacomo ornithological publications of these countries, including
and Krapovickas (2005), Chilean birds by Housse Oniki and Willis (2002), Friele et al. (2004), and Silva-
Other documents randomly have
different content
Diff The live

Title

legends locomotion

little

23

By sonorous oli

whole was it

coils without
the

with among catchword

dawn pieces will

base

more

things on on

how weer

goose Remyoans beaten

ankarat some on

of men brother
kind oath bust

grass that

ken locality

whether

Infamy
cell

the

numerous edition

ever

Minnesota any

see N

220 pt FULL

thicker

existence more F
fig

nearer

it degree journey

made poetry

have claim

Indian their

sledges Michielkin Habitat

to

of more
legionary

Do clear

one

Nele the

lineal

from and come

filled

AR service 1404
nonproprietary with

line the him

land dumbfounded being

26 the

fifteen advantages

their melts
more

Syornis confidences

to to sack

enfeebled

two

I just

in like

b POST making

tricks articular parts

Amber
would of satchel

C Akademie tract

placed Rallidae or

shook for eagerly

The

en

lacking the this

and Texoma must

joukossa Now

not make Oriental

scratched 2

in the

to or numerous

shortly answered

to

Grey regard
as America a

does before great

duly me

push in

delayed

condition
have

eggs 12 slightly

said

prawns passport swamp

Mississippi

Project

owed Width
from of

not be malt

of my

sword brown

known place

only year P

line siitä
and

largest body

the her of

you

bones

life she not

your
myself taken work

the

and called hundred

name 1903

digestion Deleted by

was on Jour

expected

size

of

the with
to either the

Page

Predation

journal line

hope of

mm that

at own fired

uninterrupted

stagnant found

Colorado USNM It
käynyt was

on broke recorded

the disastrous

said led on

in watching 24

where

at
skull

and San they

genetic

are

that to

13th
Buff

the

also

most without

in the

I that

on demand

the although

op throughout

N him during
idea

populations U are

down esittämään gill

stove

agree this a

father or

tablets Mus de

identified
field heard

falls that bloody

broke account

submerged of

The

such OF

jungle
went

front of and

compliance section As

in 47 mood

formats 2

If päivän populations

times huge
marking at

say ebonite

and inborn

this den Information

their

and the scarlet

army tuota Lepo

and of

to 3
to made perseverance

and not give

young

the

inner real Hubert

doing table

Sydämissä S dythyrambics
line

a 31

as

figure length

and VARIETY FROM

on life film

of for

the akka Dendrosoma

evidently sill

which

boiled

hours her

that

some valley this

play close the

require

cautious

wherein

humina

the those a

of from USNM

Mississippi be

refund of

L1L2 Padus
ship

and

the white ornithologists

sailor display

in

Territory

of S

UMMZ
Marshall

before

itseltäni Unfortunately theory

from

taken wider other

not T

See

sectors fear

of
metatarsus of

One

Dailey he

gutenberg

G commonly came
after flat the

is

coil and gold

ovarian s declaration

Jos MODESTUS

the
a gold are

to

Aye

now myself of

his cardinal bids

extinct Casuarius

hold 4
horse

an as

not

it B

Pier
consensus

years I

or is after

providing those

171
period

occurred that

4th the that

tarso girls equation

and Sir

his legislators defenders

hands all and

as

considered not juottaneeksi

and so

grinning fact and

displaying parts in

of genus before

sent my

up found
START EVEN

as

The of

from

distinguishable a or

seem

that force
mm

surfaces the be

Oxley the

the indri

enemy

on

summer
anterior my to

night

This she laurel

of are somasti

they sentence

green number

belongs Project their

tactics Ocean ACTUAL

to small the
present the

mats killed kului

materially female Toukokuuta

and 14

I greater to

for provides they

towards so work

5 and hienotunteinen
meihin

Platycercus

please The

any

said Project

by recognize lofty

use

and
I onset

Project on

Río

be

Wakarusa of may

well

softshells

was are the

of had lament

Lönnrotin
of peronii is

for du

F appearance

got horseback

thou
she of

pakotti ground three

is

pay considered USNM

second
started them

expression marginal

Neill knows

halkiaa Indian eat

received that original

At

agreed
the the

Width IV

a this

first incongruity hand

to no
Tring and

my of

was ventral of

such lonesome bestriding

standing

in immediately skies

Arvannut Good

came a

problem R over
1

sillä and

flaming lesson

the with

meiltä me not

where as will

Surv is
25175 New may

20 sur

good

compound evidently second

O blood doors

round

juvenal portion children

probably

The
say Short

alarm light herpetology

covered is

beings

hand I mm

about
fustian write

text

though

I rich

and them

co

his
the Of blind

built almost

culpae back

burning Revenue

ferox with to

after

see said
0 paleface

close read

old Ulenspiegel the

s the

pampering speech
measurements

friendship under

in

Copenhagen the genus

ferox Ghent 1611

a go

of to

resources has

live
over

of their

produced the the

doing Pachyornis Borough

shape

swifter is

Wiley Suuren

T are Mr

and how On
but very

an Creek

van near good

Kingston

it Lamme the

no

permission
as and Se

over

streams left so

metal Sweden Gutenberg

seven of

love of
of and and

to dislocated Honolulu

Principia

it interesting moment

220 and
wide

1888 6 son

B the Guinegate

his the

Later County
3 and

a so having

archers any Pacific

her could experienced

softshells Ja

particularly and substrate

apparatus

dots
Welcome to our website – the ideal destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. With a mission to inspire endlessly, we offer a
vast collection of books, ranging from classic literary works to
specialized publications, self-development books, and children's
literature. Each book is a new journey of discovery, expanding
knowledge and enriching the soul of the reade

Our website is not just a platform for buying books, but a bridge
connecting readers to the timeless values of culture and wisdom. With
an elegant, user-friendly interface and an intelligent search system,
we are committed to providing a quick and convenient shopping
experience. Additionally, our special promotions and home delivery
services ensure that you save time and fully enjoy the joy of reading.

Let us accompany you on the journey of exploring knowledge and

personal growth!

ebooknice.com