Id Please: correction / clarification

["Philip Veerman" <>]

Sorry, what I meant yesterday was clear in my head, but looking today I see what I wrote is ambiguous and maybe even more likely to be misunderstood than properly understood. So I am correcting it before anyone feels the need to do so or post photos showing how wrong I am. When I wrote: "there appears to be a strong divide between the dark primary tips on both upper and lower view", I was actually referring to the sharp colour distinction, of the dark tips, to the pale bases, of each of the feathers. If not for the word "dark", what I wrote would have not even hinted at what I meant.

 

I was certainly not suggesting anything about the distance separation (or spread) of each feather from each other. It is ambiguous because what I wrote could equally or more likely suggest the latter and that is an important feature in distinguishing between for example the Little Eagle and Whistling Kite which may add weight to the error but I now clarify that is not a feature to separate the two harrier species.  

 

 

Hi Roger,

 

A Little Grassbird. It is too dark on the back for a TG. Also clearly is streaked on the underparts, a TG is plain. I know this is dumb but it just looks little, not big enough for a TG and yes there is nothing on which to measure this on your photo except the size of the reeds. The Little Grassbird is common there. I may be wrong but I don't think we have ever had a TG in Canberra.

 

The other one is harder. The Swamp Harrier (not called Marsh Harrier here) is less rare than the Spotted Harrier in the ACT but both occur sporadically at Kellys swamp, so status does not help much. It is certainly one of these two. It looks much more like an immature Spotted Harrier to me. You say "I believe the Raptor is a Marsh Harrier" and maybe you watched it for a long time and saw more than the photo shows. Why do you think that? As in there might be something else you saw that adds to the photo. I am just going by the photo. The wings and tail look more grey than brown and are strongly barred (although adult Swamp Harriers have barred wings), the tail looks very grey, which fits Spotted Harrier more than Swamp Harrier. Most important there appears to be a strong divide between the dark primary tips on both upper and lower view, which fits Spotted Harrier much more than Swamp Harrier. I do not interpret the pale rump on the photo as evidence of a white rump that would suggest it is a Swamp Harrier. The immature Spotted Harrier can be really difficult, the only consistent feature is the Spotted Harrier always shows spots or strong variegated markings on the carpal (wrist) joint, whereas these markings are never prominent in the Swamp Harrier.Your photo is not clear enough to show this either way.

 

Philip

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Williams, Roger [
Sent: Monday, 12 September 2011 3:52 PM
To: canberrabirds
Subject: [canberrabirds] Id Please

Could somebody help with Iding these birds please,I believe the Raptor is a Marsh Harrier(not a very good photo )and could the small bird be a Tawny Grassbird, both photo’s were taken at Kellys swamp today.

Roger Williams