More on size

I recently read — Size lies. And for the first time. I like that statement. It goes along with my profound statement- Tails do not nail. If tails don’t nail, then certainly tail tip structure and design do not nail. We are talking about accipiters here.

What does it mean when you take the length of the bird as a number? What does it mean when you take the measurement of the wing span? Mainly it means that you are working in two dimensions. You are not working with the contours of the bird! Therefore, you do not get a feel for the chest and belly of the hawk. You may not think this is important, and as a birder, I assure you, you are only interested in the “coating” of the bird- that is the general color, or the distinct color and pattern— in other words — only the coating of the bird. You are not at all interested in the various structures and movement of the bird. You are not interested in the silhouette of the bird... only the field marks. And the silhouette is the easiest way to identify raptors.

So the wingspan is a line which has no thickness or width, so you are working in only one dimension.  
Wing span has very little meaning, until we compare it with the length of the hawk. So now what we are dealing with is shape and proportions, not the actual size of the hawk. Therefore, within this blog— size of the raptor does not matter, as we are talking of the raptors of Puget Sound and the North Eastern states. But of course size will come into play, but that is when you have 6-7 years of field work with raptors, perched and in flight, at distances of 1 mile and more. And we can only use size in conjunction with many other factors and relating to a very few species. Size is always there. It is a part of our thoughts and mentality. You just have to have the concept to keep size “ under control.”

In the field: A raptor is first observed very near the bright sun, then disappears in the sun.
A raptor is circling over head in a thick fog.
A raptor is heading toward your position, at about 50 feet altitude, and is now overhead and behind your position. However, the sky is dark, such as when the sun is below the horizon.
In all 3 cases, general and specific color is absent. Therefore, field marks are absent. However, if the area is Puget Sound, probably every raptor can be identified by: wing beats, wing holding, shape and proportions, especially the structure of the wing. In all cases—size is not important— if size is used it will be misleading.

I have a made-up story concerning size... however not now, as I want to get into the meaty part of this web site.NB.