Trapping a wild raptor is regulated. In the United States you need a falconry permit issued by your state, and each state sets its own rules for which species you may trap, at what age, in what season, and where. Many states also require landowner permission, and some species shown on this map are not legal to trap at all. Before you scout, read your state wildlife agency's falconry regulations and talk to your sponsor. This map is an information tool only; it does not grant permission to trap anywhere.
Banding prior (warm heat, and a soft area tint up close): where licensed banders have caught juvenile raptors over the last 30 years. This is the strongest signal for productive trapping ground. All sightings: recent reports from birders (eBird, iNaturalist, museums); dots cluster at wider zooms, click one for the count. Juvenile-tagged: photographed birds annotated as juveniles; click through to check the plumage yourself.
Pick your target species, keep the fall passage window on, and look for places near you where the banding heat and recent sightings overlap. Use the hillshade: passage birds follow ridgelines and slope updrafts. Zoom in, find open ground with perches (field edges, powerline cuts, roadside poles), and drop a scouting mark on anything promising. Export your marks and go look.
Sightings track where people watch birds, not just where birds are, so cities and refuges look brighter than they deserve. Banding locations are deliberately blurred to roughly 18 km blocks. A hot spot on the map is a reason to scout an area, not a promise; your results will vary with the season, the weather, and the year's hatch.