Hi Philip
I think what is confusing me are the publications on the two birds! I
accept that the bird I took a picture of is an adult CS, probably a female
as her companion was much smaller and therefore I presume the male. All the
publications say that the adult bird is similar in colouring to the Brown
Goshawk, which I find hard to believe! The bird in my backyard didn't have
a brown back or wings, but was basically grey all over with a barred chest
whic turned to brown colour in the lower regions. I observed Brown Goshawks
in the Healesville region just north of the Dandenong ranges with an
experienced birdwatcher last year. The birds were much darker in colour,
the head was much thicker set and they were bigger in size. Agreed this was
in Victoria and over a year ago, so my memory might be a problem, but you
only have to look at the COG Publication Birds of Canberra Gardens on page
67 - do the birds look the same? I don't think so! The Brown Goshawk is
what I remembered from over a year ago in Victoria. The CS looks grey to
me, although the bird is in shade! This is my first close encounter with a
CS and so I tried to match what I saw to the descriptions in the books I
have. All of them told me that the adult plumage for both birds was similar
and brown in colour! So my immediate thought of the CS was that it might be
a juvenile (in error I might add - remember I consider myself inexperienced
in bird observation) I just think the books are misleading and perhaps in
error! You just have to look at the photos that Geoffrey put on the website
yesterday, personally from my observation the birds are round the wrong way.
1 and 4 look more like the bird I photographed. The two central birds look
more like the Brown Goshawks I remember, although they are paler! One thing
I have learnt from colour photography is that colour depends very much on
the light of the day!
Are these birds subject to colour variations within their ranges?
The raptors are a fascinating subject aren't they?
Roger
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