Woke up y'day morning to find this BOP sitting on the railing of my balcony (in Hobart). Managed to get a few partial shots of him before he flew up onto the roof and then disappeared. I'm guessing Brown Goshawk, but will happily stand corrected if anyone knows any better?!.... Cheers.
How lucky are you? What a beautiful photo.Thanks for sharing it with us.
M-L
I have a shirt like his. Lovely Scott
I am no good at BOP - I would say brown goshawk too but the tail is the distinguishing feature
He/she looks very contented there.
ScottTas, I note that the eye in your shot is yellow, the same colour as the eye of the Collared Sparrowhawk depicted in Morcombe's field guide. The eye of the Brown Goshawk in Morcombe is red. This would suggest that the bird in your shot is a (juvenile) Collared Sparrowhawk. However, Pizzey says that the eye of the the juvenile Brown Goshawk is pale yellow. This would suggest that your shot is that of a (juvenile) Brown Goshawk. Confusion rules OK. Can any raptorphile clarify?
Thanks for trying everyone! I think based on this shot alone maybe you can't pick which one it is?!
@Woko: My "Birds of Prey of Australia" by Stephen Debus (great, highly recommed it!) says:
Brown Goshawk: Adult - eyes yellow. Juvenile - eyes brown (in fledglings) to pale yellow.
Collared Sparrowhawk: Adult - eyes yellow. Juvenile - eyes brown (in fledglings) to pale yellow.
Hmmm. So I think this is the 'pale yellow' that could be either... I'm going stir crazy staring at pics of them both and trying to work them out!! I've seen a male sparrowhawk in Vic, and he was so small it was obvious he wasn't a goshawk. Apart from that, and the 'menacing' eyebrow of Brown Goshawk (and if you can see the long middle toe of the sparrowhawk), I'm out of ideas!!
Cheers, Scott.
I'm going for a collared sparrowhawk on the basis that it's more open-eyed & has a less menacing frown than the brown goshawk's.
I reckon Brown Goshawk judging by the brow and eye.
Sparrowhawk would appear more wide-eyed and staring.
Cheers, Owen.
Just to throw a different view on this discussion, I think the bill is too small for Brown Goshawk, so my vote is for Collared Sparrowhawk, but not confident.
Is there any more photos? Perhaps just a slightly different head angle, could give us a different impression.
Thanks all. I did get one more photo which is a bit blurred, but does offer a slightly different view of his head...