birding-aus

Raptor ID please

To: "Birding Aus" <>
Subject: Raptor ID please
From: "Chris Corben" <>
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 07:46:44 -0500
It has to be an accipiter, not a falcon.
Brown Goshawk.
I am not so sure that Sparrowkawk is that easily dismissed. To me, the face 
doesn't look that convincing for a Goshawk, but I'm not sure (long time 
since I've seen either that close). I can easily think the bird looks tiny 
standing on that post, and what little I can see of a leg looks very 
slender.
More importantly, I think people are perhaps being misled by the tail shape. 
As I understand it, the roundness or squareness of the tail is a function of 
the whole tail, and primarily the relative lengths of outer versus inner 
rectrices. The outer rectrices of Sparrowhawk may well be more square ended 
than in Goshawk, making the tail corners look more angular and enhancing the 
impression of a square tail in Sparrowhawk.But what you are seeing in these 
photos is just the central rectrices. Do these differ in shape between 
Goshawk and Sparrowhawk? I know that Sparrowhawk does often look 
square-tailed when perched, but would it still do so if only the central 
rectrices were visible?
Cheers, Chris.

Chris Corben

www.hoarybat.com
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