Birds of Prey of the West: A Field Guide

by Brian K. Wheeler

Birds of Prey of the West and its companion volume, Birds of Prey of the East, are the most comprehensive and authoritative field guides to North American birds of prey ever published. Written and lavishly illustrated with stunning, lifelike paintings by leading field-guide illustrator, photographer, and author Brian Wheeler, the guides depict an enormous range of variations of age, sex, color, and plumage, and feature a significant amount of plumage data that has never been published before. The painted figures illustrate plumage and species comparisons in a classic field-guide layout. Each species is shown in the same posture and from the same viewpoint, which further assists comparisons. Facing-page text includes quick-reference identification points and brief natural history accounts that incorporate the latest information. The range maps are exceptionally accurate and much larger than those in other guides. They plot the most up-to-date distribution information for each species and include the location of cities for more accurate reference. Finally, the guides feature color habitat photographs next to the maps. The result sets a new standard for guides to North America's birds of prey.

Lavishly illustrated with stunning, lifelike paintingsWritten and illustrated by a leading authority on North American birds of preyDepicts more plumages than any other guideConcise facing-page text includes quick-reference identification pointsClassic field-guide layout makes comparing species easyLarge, accurate range maps include up-to-date distribution informationUnique color habitat photographs next to the maps

359 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 19, 2018

About the author

Brian K. Wheeler has been studying, painting, and photographing birds of prey throughout the United States and Canada for more than fifty years. He is the illustrator of Hawks of North America (Peterson Field Guides), the coauthor and photographer of A Photographic Guide to North American Raptors (Princeton), and the author and photographer of Raptors of Eastern North America and Raptors of Western North America (Princeton). His photographs have appeared in many other books and in many bird magazines.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

With my favorite bird on the cover, I am naturally biased to rate this book highly. I found this guide very technical, with detailed descriptions of the physical traits of each species from juvenile through progressive growth stages to the adult phase. Undoubtedly it was written for the primary purpose of identifying raptors in the field, whether soaring high overhead or perched on a tree. Preferred habitats and geographical distribution showing migratory areas were also included, but almost nothing about biology and ecology, which I would have liked to read about. Of course the main attraction were the superbly done hand drawn color illustrations of these imposing birds, perched and in flight from various angles, with close ups of the head and tail.

All in all a very impressive work of art and well worth adding to my collection of natural history guide books.

[Sean Cozart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't finished and I probably won't be a long time till I do but I like to put a few words in and forewarned, I'm going to get really scientific in this.

I was recommended this guide after having a debate about Red-tailed Hawk subspecies. Raptors are also my favorite kind of birds so I went forward and got this book to help me out in the field. Here's a few things I like about the kind. Brian's illustrations are amazing and genuinely unlike other illustrated guides. These are detailed and almost life-like and it shows more than what we call the clear-cut examples of certain species. That's another thing I would like to touch on, is the variation he gives to the guide. Example being, he will have an illustration for light-marked, moderately-marked, heavily-marked and so forth of each of the four different Red-tailed Hawk morphs to show how variant they can be. Or show in Swainson's Hawks that there's very dark intermediate morphs and then dark morphs. That some Sharp-shinned Hawks can have a Goshawk-ish supercilium. So incredibly detailed and it shouldn't lead you astray in hawk identification.

The thing I don't like is personal opinion and I won't drop a star for it, it's for something else. I find it odd how Brian recognizes several Red-tailed Hawk but exclude others. For example, he claims the Northern Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis abieticola) is a heavily marked Eastern Red-tailed (B. j. borealis) that can be virtually found throughout the eastern US at all times of the year. And the Northern Red-tailed is also a subspecies that I've talked to at various times with raptor experts but then Brian bases his subspecies off the same expert's experience so I don't know what's going on anymore. I'm just wondering why he would do that to the Northern subspecies but not say the Alaskan Red-tailed (B. j. alascensis) is a pink/rufous-breasted form of the Western Red-tailed (B. j. calurus) when the status of the Alaskan Red-tailed in the taxonomic tree is even more sketchy. Lastly, Brian includes Krider's (B. j. krideri) X Eastern intergrades in the guide. I have been told by the experts that they've found very Eastern-ish Krider's before but they've never actually confirmed one as far as I know. So to have like 6 illustrations claiming to be intergrades but won't provide what possible intergrades with Harlan's may look like seems like an afterthought.

Here's my biggest pet peeve in the book and the main reason I dropped a star. Brian specifically called the odd-bunch hawks 'partial-albinos'. Brain... you have 50+ years of 'raptor' experience and you can't even say leucistic? There is no such thing as a freaking partial-albino, you are either albino or not. And a scientist and birder like you should know that. It's like a doctor misdiagnosing a patient that has leukemia with lymphoma. They're both blood cancers but what they do and how they do it is very different. I'm not going to go through the differences between albinism or leucism but if you want to know, just google it. So that's my biggest problem with the book because someone with his experience should know something like that. But besides that, I will be using this book to its full extent out in the field.

[Neill Vanhinsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book. It has juvenile and adult plumages illustrated like no other pocket sized guide and is packed with excellent information in the text. Wheeler obviously has a deep and profound knowledge of the subject and it shows. The section on variation and subspecies of Red-tailed Hawks is worth the price of the book. There are more than a dozen different adult Harlan's Hawk tails illustrated which begins to show the amount of variation in this subspecies. The only thing that keeps it from a five star rating is that the images are a bit dark and on a medium dark background making seeing the detail of the illustrations tougher for older eyes like mine.