Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!csus.edu!ucdavis!csusac!unify!Unify.com!grp From: grp@Unify.com (Greg Pasquariello) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: Peregrine over Route 1 in New Brunswick, NJ??? Message-ID: <1990Dec6.130950@Unify.com> Date: 6 Dec 90 21:09:50 GMT References: <10509@helios.TAMU.EDU> <1990Dec3.164235.14061@newcastle.ac.uk> <532@research.cc.flinders.oz> Sender: news@Unify.Com (news admin) Reply-To: grp@Unify.com (Greg Pasquariello) Distribution: rec.birds,usa Organization: Unify Corporation, Sacramento, CA, USA Lines: 67 In article <532@research.cc.flinders.oz>, psjmt@research.cc.flinders.oz (James Tizard) writes: > From: psjmt@research.cc.flinders.oz (James Tizard) > Subject: Re: Peregrine over Route 1 in New Brunswick, NJ??? > Date: 4 Dec 90 23:27:56 GMT > Organization: Computing Services, Flinders University, S.A., Australia > > In article <1990Dec3.164235.14061@newcastle.ac.uk> J.M.Spencer@newcastle.ac.uk (Jonathan Spencer) writes: > > > >"...more like an accipiter of falcon tha a hawk..."? What *is* an > >Accipiter if it's not a hawk? > > > >Jonathan M Spencer > > In England, and here in Australia too, we don't have 'hawks' as such. > 'Hawk' is a lay term for smallish raptors, of which accipiters > (goshawks & sparrowhawks) are one genus (family?). In the US however, things > are different (suprise!). I haven't got my US field guide with me, but > I do recall that there is a whole family of raptors correctly referred > to as 'hawks'. One species I remeber seeing in the south was the Red Hawk > (???) - a common roadside hawk of about european buzzard size. > In America it goes something like this... All raptors (American Vultures and eagles excluded) are loosely termed hawks. Buteos, which in Europe are called Buzzards, are here called Hawks (i.e. Red tailed Hawk). A Buzzard in America, generally refers to a New World Vulture, and usually to the Turkey Vulture. Accipiters are also called hawks, as they are in Europe. Falcons are falcons, unless they are Duck Hawks (Peregrine), Sparrow Hawks (Kestrel) or Pigeon Hawks (Merlin). Note that our Sparrow Hawk is a falcon and the European Sparrow Hawk is an Accipiter! Kites are always kites. Praise be. The Osprey is also called a Fish Hawk, or Fish Eagle. The Marsh Hawk is not a hawk, but a harrier, and is not a Marsh Harrier, but is a Northern Harrier. Yikes! Lord only knows _what_ a Caracara is. Now let's talk Robins... > _--_|\ James Tizard > psjmt@research.cc.flinders.edu.au -- --- Greg Pasquariello Unify Corporation grp@Unify.Com