BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 4, 2022
Expert hawk-watchers can identify a raptor on the horizon that’s no bigger than a speck of dust. It’s annoying. It makes us mere mortals feel inadequate. The experts can, of course, explain all the tips they are using to make the identification, but that’s not their big secret. Their secret is this: they’ve seen thousands and thousands of hawks. Practice. The first step is to figure out which family the distant raptor is in. Then, it’s just a matter of figuring out which of the three (or one) family members it is. I mention all this now, because we’re hitting the peak of early hawk migration this week. Practice. ~ Bob Duchesne