A Hawkish FearthursdayWith what is going on in the world today, a few of us are feeling a little haw

A Hawkish Fearthursday

With what is going on in the world today, a few of us are feeling a little hawkish, but instead of acting on these feelings in some bellicose way, we’ve decided to channel that angst into these images of lovely North American raptors. These are color lithographs from our 1907 edition of Bird-Life, A Guide to the Study of our Common Birds, by American ornithologist Frank M. Chapman, with illustrations by the English-Canadian-American wildlife artist Ernest Thompson Seton, published in New York by D. Appleton and Company. Shown here from top to bottom:

1. American Kestrel(Falco sparverius), identified here as a Sparrow Hawk.
2. Red-shouldered Hawk(Buteo lineatus).
3. Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius), identified here as a Marsh Hawk.
4. Sharp-shinned Hawk(Accipiter striatus).
5. Osprey(Pandion haliaetus).

While all are “hawkish,” their familial relationships aren’t always straightforward. Of the birds shown here, all are in the order of Accipitriformes, except for the American Kestrel which is in the entirely separate order of Falconiformes. The rest are in the family Accipitridae, except the Osprey, which is in the family Pandionidae. Of the remaining Accipritidae in this group, all are in different sub-families and genera and … oh the family politics!

We just hope that your own hawkishness is spent contemplating the beauty and grace of this very diverse group of birds.

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