Guide to eBird spuhs and slashes
for birds of prey in the East Kootenay
Those pesky spuhs (sp.) and slashes (/) eBird offers for when you are not sure which species of hawk or raptor or bird of prey ... are pesky.
But, they're handy for creating a placeholder for you to try to identify them later. And they are required if you see a bird you can't identify (and who hasn't had that!) but still want to check the box: are you reporting all .... Checking the box lets your numbers be included in frequency and other calculations; which helps with population estimates.
Here is a quick guide you may study and refer to.
It's confusing! The main thing is to try to get the identification as close to a species as possible. Perhaps you can only get to a genera such as Buteo, Accipter, or Falco, or other by process of elimination.
Look at the colour of the box outline in the pic below:
If what you think it might be is in the RED box .... then it's a Buteo/eagle sp.
- red box - Buteo/eagle sp.
- blue box - hawk sp. OR Golden/Bald Eagle
- yellow box - diurnal raptor sp.
- outer black box - bird sp.
The main groups are Accipter, falcon, Buteo, and eagle.
Accipiter and Buteo get capitalized because they are names of a genus.
We could use the capitalized name Falco instead of falcon.
Our two eagle species are in different genera.
- Accipiter sp. is for the rounder-winged forest hawks in the genus Accipiter
- Northern Goshawk
- Cooper's Hawk
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- A large accipiter could be Cooper's Hawk/Northern Goshawk
- A small accipiter could be Sharp-shinned/Cooper's Hawk
- falcon sp is for the pointy-winged fast flyers
- small falcon sp.
- American Kestrel
- Merlin
- large falcon sp.
- Peregrine Falcon
- Prairie Falcon
- Buteo sp. is for hawks in the genus Buteo
- Broad-winged Hawk
- Swainson's Hawk
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Rough-legged Hawk
- Ferruginous Hawk
- most of these are larger than accipiters and falcons
- the most common confusion is Red-tailed vs Rough-legged Hawk
- that happens more often in winter, so if it's summer, it's probably a Red-tailed
- hawk sp. ... you know it's not an eagle but it could be
- a hawk that is not a Buteo such as
- Northern Harrier
- Osprey
- a Buteo or maybe a Goshawk or large Cooper's Hawk
- this does not include falcons
- Buteo/eagle sp.
- maybe it's an eagle or one of the Buteos
- but for sure it's not a harrier, Osprey, falcon, accipiter, or vulture
- Golden/Bald Eagle not eagle sp.
- Golden or Bald Eagle? Not sure which.
- but since those are the only two species around here the slash is better than the spuh
- Your guess does not include vulture ... then it's a diurnal raptor sp.
- any of the species in the chart except Turkey Vulture, so:
- eagles
- hawks of the genus Buteo
- Red-tailed
- Rough-legged
- other
- hawks of genus Accipter
- Northern Goshawk
- Cooper's Hawk
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- falcons of the genus Falco
- Northern Harrier
- Osprey
- hawks of other genera
Just not sure but your guess does includes vulture? ... then it's a bird sp.
Note: some authorities put Turkey Vulture in Order Accipitriformes but eBird, which uses the Clements checklist, puts them in Order Cathartiformes. Since "diurnal raptor sp." is only for Orders Accipitriformes and Falconiformes, Turkey Vulture is not included; therefore, "bird sp." is the eBird spuh if it could be a vulture but you are not sure.
