The following eight quizzes consist of digital photographs of birds seen at the Tussey Mountain Spring Hawkwatch March-April 2009. The photos and the quiz answers were taken and written by Nick Bolgiano of State College.
These pictures display typical profiles you might see at the hawkwatch. Depending on your experience watching migrating birds at a hawkwatch, some of these may be very easy, very difficult, or seemingly impossible.
If you can't see some of the distinguishing marks, try adjusting the contrast, brightness, or angle of your monitor. The quality of your monitor may also have some effect. It may also help to re-visit some of the photos after going through the entire sequence after your eyes have adapted to watching dark forms against a bright background.
For more information about watching raptors at a distance, see Hawks in Flight: The Flight Identification of North American Migrant Raptors by David Allen Sibley, Clay Sutton, and Pete Dunne, and Hawks from Every Angle: How to Identify Raptors In Flight by Jerry Liguori and David Sibley, and the DVD Hawk Watch: A Video Guide to Eastern Raptors (updated from the original VHS video by Richard K. Walton and Greg Dodge).
Tip: If you open all quizzes in new tabs in the current window, you can easily switch between tabs in the current window for comparison.