canberrabirds

Bird ID

To: "'Lindsay Hansch'" <>, "'COG-L'" <>
Subject: Bird ID
From: "Philip Veerman" <>
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2012 17:32:29 +1100
Hi Lindsay,
 
That is a good question. Yes the unfeathered legs and no doubt the general abundance of Whistling Kites would suggest that, but it certainly isn't that. No WK is that strongly marked in light & dark brown or has a dark tail. The face shape and very sloping upper curve of the beak surely shows it to be a Harrier, which is consistent with the long legs (longer than in any kite). That the wing coverts are heavily marked and the almost orange face (forward of the facial ruff) suggests very much to me it is a juvenile Spotted Harrier. I can't come up with anything else that matches. Did you see any features additional to those in the photo and did you consider that ID? If you don't have a book that shows a juvenile Spotted Harrier but only shows an adult, you could easily overlook that ID. There should surely be Spotted Harriers in that area. 
 
Philip
 
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Lindsay Hansch [
Sent: Friday, 3 February 2012 5:06 PM
To: COG-L
Subject: [canberrabirds] Bird ID

I took the enclosed photo a couple of years ago at Cunnamulla, Qld and had it listed in my photo library as a Whistling Kite.  The relatively long, bare legs seem to indicate it is possibly something else.  Any thoughts?

 

Regards

 

Lindsay Hansch

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