Bird ID help please

[Bushy Crafter]

My initial thought after seeing the picture is a Buzzard or a female kestrel. Although I think that together with Sparrowhawk they all look very similar.

For those saying Sparrowhawk, could you please tell how you got to this conclusion? (not trying to challenge your identifications, merely wondering what features I should be paying more attention to)

 

[blacktimberwolf]

My initial thought after seeing the picture is a Buzzard or a female kestrel. Although I think that together with Sparrowhawk they all look very similar.

For those saying Sparrowhawk, could you please tell how you got to this conclusion? (not trying to challenge your identifications, merely wondering what features I should be paying more attention to)

Tallish slim bird with barred breast feathers, yellow eyes & long tail, the brown upperparts suggest female & the reddish tints above the legs & cheeks are typical of a juvenile female, ( after the next moult the barring will become dark brown & the underparts white.)
The females are larger than the males (who are greyer in colour)


Hope this helps

 

[ganstey]

Another identifying feature of Sparrowhawks is a greatly elongated middle 'toe'. I'm pretty sure I can see it in the two close up pictures. Also it's general shape is definitely more hawk than falcon.

Saw my first Peregrine a few weeks ago - very sleek, with a very tidy profile. Definitely looks more like an athlete than a rugby player

Graham

 

[pango]

Great pics Sniper, and definitely a sparrowhawk. My brother took photos on his phone of a sparrowhawk cowling over a pigeon it killed in his garden, then lost them when he tried to download them.

Your initial description had me convinced it was a merlin you'd seen. One flew past the car last week when I was driving through a Fife village, which surprised me.

Hobbies have been reported nesting in Galloway (I think), so not a million miles from your neck of the woods. I've only ever seen them in Dorset some decades ago. A beautiful bird and such an amazing aerial performer!

I'd maybe better watch what I'm saying here, as I had an altercation on the phone with the RSPB when I called to report sighting a peregrine in the local hills some years ago... and was thanked by being told by some snippy wee Nae-Pals that it was an offence to reveal their whereabouts, photograph, or even observe them. I told him to go take a f*** at himself and assured him that I'd never again make the mistake of contacting them!

Pango.

 

[gsfgaz]

Great pictures John , what a beautiful bird ..

 

[robin wood]

My initial thought after seeing the picture is a Buzzard or a female kestrel. Although I think that together with Sparrowhawk they all look very similar.

For those saying Sparrowhawk, could you please tell how you got to this conclusion? (not trying to challenge your identifications, merely wondering what features I should be paying more attention to)

I always think it is the pencil thin and long legs that instantly set sparrowhawk apart from goshawk or buzzard when it's not easy to see scale. Go to google images type in goshawk, then buzzard, then sparrowhawk and look at the legs proportionally they are half the thickness for sparrowhawk.

Kestrel is very different, vertical not horizontal breast bars and facial patterns perhaps being the most obvious differences at rest and shape and flight style when on the move. Merlin and hobby are like the kestrel mini falcons, longwings rather than shortwings (hawks) very different shape hunting technique, flight pattern everything.

 

[Sniper]

I saw a write up with a picture that was taken of it in the local paper just a couple of days after I posted this up here and the paper was asking for folks to identify it, they also had it pegged as a Peregrine. So I sent an email to them explaining about the advice and opinions I received here and they printed one of the pictures and a write up from me almost word for word including a mention of the website.

"With reference to your story about the "Peregrine Falcon", this too was my initial ID of the bird but when it landed on my next doors shed roof I was able to take a couple of shots of it which I have attached. I put the pictures up on the Bushcraft UK website, as many of the members there are professional trackers and outdoors activities instructors and well informed enthusiasts in all things wild, and asked them their opinion on what it was. The majority are quite sure that it is a Sparrowhawk, and it is a pair, as both birds were seen together in my neighbour's garden by her.Hopefully this will end the speculation of what it is and thanks must go to the knowledgeable members of Bushcraft UK whose speedy help with identifying the species has been invaluable."

 

[Barn Owl]

I saw a write up with a picture that was taken of it in the local paper just a couple of days after I posted this up here and the paper was asking for folks to identify it, they also had it pegged as a Peregrine. So I sent an email to them explaining about the advice and opinions I received here and they printed one of the pictures and a write up from me almost word for word including a mention of the website.

"With reference to your story about the "Peregrine Falcon", this too was my initial ID of the bird but when it landed on my next doors shed roof I was able to take a couple of shots of it which I have attached. I put the pictures up on the Bushcraft UK website, as many of the members there are professional trackers and outdoors activities instructors and well informed enthusiasts in all things wild, and asked them their opinion on what it was. The majority are quite sure that it is a Sparrowhawk, and it is a pair, as both birds were seen together in my neighbour's garden by her.Hopefully this will end the speculation of what it is and thanks must go to the knowledgeable members of Bushcraft UK whose speedy help with identifying the species has been invaluable."

There's a few birders up your way John that are genuine experts.
take it from me, I know...but good on the paper for giving us reprobates a shout...

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Nice one,.... thanks for the update Sniper.