This book specifically focuses on the birds of prey of New Mexico. Both Florence Bailey (1928) and J. Stokley Ligon (1961) published volumes on the birds of New Mexico, but their coverage of raptors was somewhat limited. In the ensuing years a great deal of new information has been collected on their distribution, ecology and conservation, including in New Mexico.
The text includes the writings of thirty-seven contributing authors who relate their observations on these raptor species, and offers a comprehensive treatment of all hawks, eagles, kites, vultures, falcons and owls breeding or wintering in New Mexico, or simply migrating through the state, and is illustrated with more than 600 photographs.