Here is an image taken by a mate of mine. He has given me full written permission to use it in discussion. I would love to know what you people think it is. Apparently a dozen members of the CBOC think it is a particular hawk species rare (extinct) near Sydney.
Could it be a red goshawk???
As someone who is not that familiar with australian BOPs, but if I was still living in Europe, I would say, this is a Buzzard. What do you think? (I'm used to getting IDs wrong though.)
M-L
hi windhover
just looking through the BOPs in my guide and im guessing it might be swamp harrier
if not then maybe red goshawk
Cheers, Owen.
I haven't seen this bird, but from my Slater I would choose the red goshawk because of the black tips on the 'fingers' of the wings and the small crescent that is midway in colour between the darker and lighter browns of the underwing, on the leading edge of the wing, just back from the base of the first 'finger'
I was hoping you would drop in: in best photos I posted a photo of a bird I saw today. I think it is a grey goshawk, which I have never seen before and is not on the birds of prey list for the Hunter Wetlands Centre. I couldn't get a good look or photo.
Birdgirl
Thanks for your input. :) BTW; Great find that Grey Goshawk at the wetlands.
I am by no means an expert - in fact, as much as I love raptors I am terrible at id-ing them, but it does look very 'red goshawk'-ish - would be fantastically exciting if it was!
For some reason is doesn't scream Swamp Harrier to me but I can't exactly pinpoint why.
Thanks for the comment Holly. :) I will reveal in due course.
I am waiting with baited breath Windhover :)
I'm leaning more towards Swamp Harrier because they have stockier necks and they tend to fan their tail more in flight than a goshawk's. Goshawks appear to have white "chins" too whilst this doesn't or shadows are playing with the image.
Wow this is a tricky one :D
Taz
The first time I saw the e-mail from my mate he said many bird observers from his club at the time thought it was a Red Goshawk and that a person from the Australian Museum in Sydney has identified it as a Red Goshawk. While I have never seen a Red Goshawk, I certainly have seen dozens and dozens of Swamp Harriers and the GISS (general impression of size and shape) seemed to fit; i.e. head and bill shape, color of cere and feet, length of feet and shape of bird in flight as well as underside coloring. I immediately suggested that the bird is an adult female (most likely female). In any case, I got Dr Stephen Debus to verify my ID for me and he immediately concurred with the choice. So suddenly, there were many "expert" bird observers changing their tune that it was now a Swamp Harrier. Goes to show how little the average bird observer knows about their birds. :)
All is revealed! We went to New Zealand in the holidays and you should have seen how many swamp harriers there were there. One was on the road and turned to stare at us driving towards it before flying off with its roadkill
That's great! I love harriers, probably the most handsome of all raptors. :)