canberrabirds
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To: | "'COG List'" <> |
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Subject: | Harriers Pottering around the Hoskinstown Plain |
From: | "Philip Veerman" <> |
Date: | Sun, 12 Feb 2012 15:24:28 +1100 |
Both
Harrier species are variable in colour patterns (by age and or sex) and some
combinations are hard to tell apart. The most useful thing that I learned from
Stephen Debus that the most consistent feature easily separating all colour
stages between the two species is that (if viewed from above which we don't
always get) the Spotted
Harrier always has strongly marked (spotted or scalloped) wing coverts
(i.e. along the forearm & wrist (carpal joint)), whereas the Swamp Harrier is always
fairly uniform colour in that area.
Philip
-----Original Message----- I apologise for reusing an old
joke but it is still a good one. For once the plural is not a
typo.From: martin butterfield [ Sent: Sunday, 12 February 2012 2:53 PM To: COG List Subject: [canberrabirds] Harriers Pottering around the Hoskinstown Plain This morning a local landowner contacted to advise that he had seen two harriers on his property and wondered if one was a Swamp Harrier. I accompanied him to he paddock and had excellent views of a Spotted Harrier initially perched on a fence and then flying off. The flight sighting clearly showed a darkish rump (definitely not white) and extensive dark wing tips. As much of the belly was white I take this to be a juvenile bird. After getting seriously swooped by a Nankeen Kestrel the bird headed off to be joined by a second, darker bird. I didn't get to see this but my friend reported that when he first saw them, earlier in the day, they seemed to fly together almost like a mating display. Unfortunately the bird was somewhat skittish and I couldn't get a photograph. Martin |
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