Jerry, mate
OK, comments: First, well done! Looks like a Spotted
Harrier all right. If you saw a trailing leg, I am surprised you think
there might be two leg-trailing SHs in the greater JW area, but I
suppose caution in making such judgments provides the most secure foundation for
the advancement of our understanding of the natural world.
I use a range of cameras/lenses etc and the item I was lugging
when we met is not my favourite piece of equipment from a mobility viewpoint.
No matter, it will all be different in 5 or 10 years when now-unimaginable
video and still images will be captured by a mobile phone the size of one of
those now-extinct cigarette lighters, that acquires a super-stabilised 100
mpx per frame.
A question is whether there will then be any Spotted Harriers
around. The 2nd BA atlas gives a minus 47% variation from the
first atlas in the number of grids where the SH was recorded. gd
From: Jerry Bishop
[
Sent: Wednesday, 27 February 2008 4:44 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] Spotted Harrier
This morning, with a birding companion, I saw
a raptor with a trailing leg on the far side of Kelly’s Swamp (under the
power lines) which then came to perch near the Railway Museum.
Among others I took the following photos,
which Geoffrey Dabb would probably regard as inferior given his super dooper
camera, but I remain unsure whether it was the Spotted
Harrier. The face ring is quite conspicuous and the legs look right but
not much else. Any comments?
Jerry Bishop
