Eagles Osprey Turkey Vulture IDENTIFYING • Largest raptors in Iowa • In flight, wings are narrow & bent, IOWA’S • Young eagles can be mistaken for like a gull 1 hawks because of their mottled, • Hunt over water; only raptor to mostly brown coloring dive fully into water to catch fish RAPTORS Below are the general shapes of the 3 Bald Eagle (immature) 3 groups of hawks, when seen in flight from below. Using these diagrams, choose the one that most looks like the 2 2 bird you saw and go to that section of 2 1 1. Red, featherless head with white this pamphlet to compare species. If it beak in adults; immature have did not look like any of these, open up gray head. the back to see other possible raptor 2. Light primary & secondary wing species. feathers. 1 1. Dark wrist patch. 3. Commonly seen soaring & circling 3 2. White body & coverts. high in the sky. 3. Can have speckled “necklace.”
1. Body & most of wings mottled Accipiters black & white. Northern Harrier 2. White axillaries. Thanks to Mike Havlik • Slim bird with narrow wings 3. In birds with white tails, edges • Long tail for the bird outlines. are black. • Favor open country Federal and State law prohibits employment and/or public • Flight: Low & leisurely with wings accommodation (such as access to services or physical facili- in a shallow ‘V’ ties) discrimination on the basis of age, color, creed, disability Golden Eagle (immature) • Males gray & white; females brown (mental and/or physical), gender identity, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, contact the Iowa Civil Rights Commission at 1- Buteos 2 800-457-4416, or write to: Director, Iowa Department of Natu- 1 2 ral Resources, Wallace State Office Building, 502 E. 9th, Des 1 Moines, Iowa 50319-0034. 3
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1. In males, underside is mostly white. Wing tips & secondary tips black. 2. In females, wings are boldly barred 1. Body & wings more uniformly Iowa Department of Natural Resources Falcons colored than Bald Eagle. with dark tips. Body is streaked 2. Light/golden patagium brown. 1436 255th St. (“shoulder”). 3. Both sexes have a long, lightly Boone, IA 50036 3. 1st year juveniles can have white banded tail. (515) 432-2823 “swoosh.” 4. White rump in both sexes. Revised by: Jenni Dyar, AmeriCorps, 2008 Accipiters Buteos more Buteos Falcons • Short, broad, round • Short, fan-like tail • Long, pointed wings wings • Blunt wing tips Broad-winged Hawk • Long tail • Long, narrow tail • Flight: 3-5 slow, delib- • Direct, rapid wingbeats; • Favor woodlands erate wing beats then 1. Primaries & usually do not soar • Flight: several quick glide 3 secondaries beats, then glide • Hunt most often from pale with American Kestrel perches dark edge. 2. Thick, even 1. Brown streaks/ Cooper’s Hawk tail banding. Red-tailed Hawk speckles on 3. In light adult, chest & wings 2 5 1. Last band cinnamon (male is darker 1. Dark 3 on tail is “bib.” than female). “comma.” 1 white. 1 2. In males, tail is 2 2. Dark 3 4 2. No notch in rusty colored patagium. tail when with one thick 3. Thin tail folded. 1 Red-shouldered Hawk dark band at 4 band. 2 3. “Clean” tip. 4. Belly band chest in 2 1. Narrow (darkness 3. In females, tail dark with subtle immature. white bands bands. varies—can 3 4. Wings & thick dark 1 be almost 2 generally 3 bands on Peregrine Falcon absent in 4 tail. straight when soaring. some). 2. Pale 1. Dark “mustache.” 5. Head can easily be seen in flight. 1 5. In adults, tail is red. “crescent.” 2. White breast. 3. Cinnamon 4 3. Chest & wings uniformly spotted *Most common hawk in Iowa. streaks on 2 1 chest. or barred. Sharp-shinned Hawk 4. Wings long in 4. Rusty “shoulders.” relation to body. Rough-legged Hawk 3 5 1. Last band 3 on tail dirty, 1. Dark wrist gray, or not 4 patch. Swainson’s Hawk visible. Merlin 2. Primaries 2. Notch in 3 “clean” & 1. White 1. “Mustache” pale folded tail. white. coverts. 1 or absent. 3. “Dirty” 1 3 3. Dark belly 2. Gray 2. Checkered chest in 2 band. primaries & 4 wings. immature. 1 1 4. Thick tail secondaries. 3. Thin white tail 2 4. Wrist 4 band in 3. White throat bands. forward when soaring. both sexes. with dark 4. Wings shaped 5. Head small; almost even with wings 5 5. In males, “bib.” like an isosceles in flight. tail is fully 3 triangle (2 sides 4. Gray tail 2 banded. 4 with subtle are the same 2 bands. length).