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Can you identify this raptor?

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 275 ✭✭Fredrick


    Connacht wrote: »
    Why don't you just ask the bird ...

    I tried and it just made this high pitch sound and gave me this funny look???


  • Registered Users Posts: 275 ✭✭Fredrick


    By the way thanks to all that posted and the help, I have some more pics but the ones in the original post were the best of the bunch.

    Cheer all ;)


  • Registered Users Posts: 44 Risarow


    Fredrick wrote: »
    By the way thanks to all that posted and the help, I have some more pics but the ones in the original post were the best of the bunch.

    Cheer all ;)

    Post the photos anyway.
    There may be something that will help the experts to identify the bird and settle the arguement once and for all.

    Sparrowhawk - goshawk?? goshawk - sparrowhawk ???

    Now if only you had a gun instead of a camera ident would be so much easier....

    Before I get lynched .... I was only JOKING :D:D


  • Registered Users Posts: 275 ✭✭Fredrick


    Risarow wrote: »
    Post the photos anyway.
    There may be something that will help the experts to identify the bird and settle the arguement once and for all.

    Sparrowhawk - goshawk?? goshawk - sparrowhawk ???

    Now if only you had a gun instead of a camera ident would be so much easier....

    Before I get lynched .... I was only JOKING :D:D

    Good one :D will try upload more today.


  • Registered Users Posts: 275 ✭✭Fredrick


    OK lads what about these :

    401C4EE1ED14432FBEF90B28D603A394.jpg

    94F66E5B17BE44378973EE3DB6BBD8DD.jpg

    A7994DFD80DC4263B00862346F6FCD15.jpg

    DCCB335D75B3413D9B943EBD4149FF43.jpg


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  • Registered Users Posts: 970 ✭✭✭cuddlycavies


    Conclusive.Goshawk.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,487 ✭✭✭boneless


    Conclusive.Goshawk.

    I am beginning to be swayed to this conclusion as well. I would still like to have something to scale the size of the bird though... I am a Doubting Thomas at the best of times.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,139 ✭✭✭Feargal as Luimneach


    Fredrick wrote: »
    Anyone know what type of raptor this one is, notice the white on the back of the wings?

    3F456DD149104B89B275BFCEE71F637B.jpg
    Just browsing through archives, this looks like a sparrowhawk to me.

    1. ear coverts colour appear too light in colour for goshawk, in goshawk alot darker
    2. tail edges square-like, more rounded in goshawk.
    3. wing tips blunt, goshawk more pointed.
    4. goshawk has more deep-bellied appearance than this bird.
    5. iris colour in this bird is yellow, orange in goshawk


  • Registered Users Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    Fredrick wrote: »
    OK lads what about these :

    401C4EE1ED14432FBEF90B28D603A394.jpg

    94F66E5B17BE44378973EE3DB6BBD8DD.jpg

    A7994DFD80DC4263B00862346F6FCD15.jpg

    DCCB335D75B3413D9B943EBD4149FF43.jpg



    Only got to see this second set of pics from last year today thanks to Feargal bringing the thread back.

    On the first page of this thread I said I thought it was a female sparrowhawk, and thses pics compound that for me for the same reasons.

    The marking definition on the underwing and the wing length compared to body length.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 5 Harry Hussey


    Hi all,
    May I state categorically that this bird is a definite Sparrowhawk, seemingly a juvenile on what can be seen of the plumage. If it is a juvenile, then that excludes any slim hopes of Goshawk immediately, as juvenile Goshawks are streaked below, not barred...
    Otherwise, the head does not protrude as much as that of a Gos, the bird is comparatively lightweight, with a narrow ventral area (sometimes, especially when displaying, Sparrowhawks can fluff out their undertail coverts, making them look more like a Goshawk, but this bird isn't doing that) and a square-ended tail (as noted already).
    Accurate assessment of the size of a lone bird is inherently unreliable, and even experienced birders can be way off in their judgement from time to time, so one can excuse claims that this was a very large bird. I once saw a bird, which I identified as a Sparrowhawk displaying, and thought to myself that it seemed quite large, and could be mistaken by some for a Goshawk...imagine my surprise when its mate got up and was much larger than it, the first bird was a MALE Sparrowhawk! They really do look larger when flying with slow wingbeats above the nesting wood. A Buzzard later got up in the same area, and dwarfed both birds, as could be expected (female Goshawk is almost the same size as a Buzzard).
    Regards,
    Harry


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