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What bird?

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  • 05-09-2019 10:30am
    #1
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,141 ✭✭✭✭


    I just got a glimpse of a bird as it swooped past my house. No idea what it might be. Largish bird with a distinctive white stripe across the upper wings and shoulders, the bird seemed to be brown otherwise. More or less buzzard shaped but possibly not as big. Any ideas please?


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    #2
    ZiabR
    Registered Users Posts: 5,575 ✭✭✭ZiabR


    Very possibly a Sparrowhawk or even a Kestrel.


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    #3
    Mickeroo
    Administrators, Computer Games Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,169 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Mickeroo


    White stripe makes me think Wood Pigeon.


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    #4
    dodderangler
    Registered Users Posts: 9,204 ✭✭✭dodderangler


    looksee wrote: »
    I just got a glimpse of a bird as it swooped past my house. No idea what it might be. Largish bird with a distinctive white stripe across the upper wings and shoulders, the bird seemed to be brown otherwise. More or less buzzard shaped but possibly not as big. Any ideas please?

    Could be juvenile male buzzard. They’re a lot smaller than the females. Sometimes not much bigger than a hen sparrowhawk


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    #5
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,141 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Thanks for those suggestions. I looked them up and none of them really fit. The white stripe was what caught my eye, it was almost artificial looking, an even-width stripe along the leading edge of the wings, all the way from one side to the other. I was quite high and the bird was 'banking' so I am pretty sure I was seeing its back. I hope it is still around, I would love to get another look at it.


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    #6
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,141 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    I have been through pics of all the Irish birds and it does look as though the buzzard is the most likely candidate, I suppose a young one may have had brighter plumage, they do have a band of lighter feathers.


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    #7
    Mickeroo
    Administrators, Computer Games Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,169 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Mickeroo


    If you're certain it was a raptor then Red Kite have a good bit of white on their wings.


    Red-kite-in-flight.jpg


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    #8
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,141 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    I'm not really certain of anything, but the point was the way the white was on the wings, in a very clear stripe right across both wings and the back, very odd.

    Looking at pics I have just seen a drawing of an osprey, which seems to have the continuous band of white across its two wings and chest. While the view is of the underside of the bird, and I thought I was seeing its back, its a possibility. Would there be many of them in the north Waterford area, just north of the Comeraghs?


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    #9
    Scotty #
    Registered Users Posts: 3,767 ✭✭✭Scotty #


    There'd be the odd passerby. 35 reported sighting in Waterford since 2008. Last ones in May of this year. You can check reports yourself here > http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web?task=BasicBirdSightingSearch


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    #10
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,141 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    Yes, that looks like a possibility, judging by some of the photos on that list. I hope I might see it again, would love to be sure. Thanks for the help all.


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