Yes Philip - I found this old snap which tends to illustrate your point. Perhaps the large feet do not comfortably grip a wire. Of course you could google one of those huge collections of species shots and work through it. Bear in mind other sub-species have smaller feet.
From: Philip Veerman [
Sent: Wednesday, 15 February 2012 11:01 PM
To: 'Erika Roper'; 'canberrabirds'
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] Dollarbird (juv.) at wetlands
Yes you are certainly right about both those ids. The obvious Hobby features are the mottled orangeish breast and the half collar going up over the side of the head. Also a typical pose. The shape is distinctive for the species too. I think if the photo was just a black outline and the feet were still visible, it could still be picked as a Hobby. For what it is worth, I have never seen a Peregrine Falcon perched on a power wire. Sure the chances are that someone might be able to come up with a photo but it sure isn't typical.
The file size of these photos is fine (not big at all).
-----Original Message-----
From: Erika Roper [
Sent: Wednesday, 15 February 2012 8:07 PM
To: canberrabirds
Subject: [canberrabirds] Dollarbird (juv.) at wetlands
Hello,
So I finally made it out to the wetlands for the first time. It's not quite what I was imagining but it was still good. Highlights for me included a juv. Dollarbird, a family of 12 Choughs feeding a single immature bird, and a female Rufous Whistler feeding a fledgling. I also spotted what I think is a Hobby. It was pretty far away though. Any suggestions? (see photo)
Also, I apologise for my file sizes. I am having some difficulty getting them to be appropriate sizes, while still maintaining quality (which can be hard for highly cropped photos such as these)/
