Can somebody put me
out of my misery please with this bird seen two days ago at Cambewarra between
Nowra and Kangaroo Valley. I can’t place it at all. It was soaring
up high on almost flat wings when not flapping/flying.
Putting my
education above almost certain embarrassment, my thought lines were… Based
on distribution and/or appearance, it’s not a sparrow/goshawk, falcon, hovering
kite or any of our eagles or osprey. It’s not a Pacific Baza, BB Buzzard
or a Black, Whistling or Brahminy Kite. It’s not a Spotted Harrier (or
Papuan). This leaves:
-
Square-tailed
kite
-
Swamp
Harrier
It does look a bit
like the Pizzey illustration of a Female Swamp Harrier but it was flying too
high(?) not doing harrier things(?) and the tail barring is wrong (in most
photos you can’t see the barring on my bird). Also it doesn’t have the
thin light collar that appears in most illustrations, though it does seem
to have the required long legs. It’s not a Square-tailed Kite because the
wing bars are not strong enough, legs look too long, tail shape might not be
square even allowing for moult, the tail barring is wrong and it seems to have
yellow legs (though that might be an artifact). That leaves me with
nothing, even though I tried to allow for immature birds. Obviously I’ve
missed something and I’d be grateful for some pointing in the right
direction.
Julian
www.flickr.com/photos/ozjulian/
