Hi,
Mike is right in the answer, apart from that there are actually more than
just these 3 ways. To which I will add the big beak relative to the head shows in the photo. Depending on sex there may be a big size difference (not available in the photo). BG also have an intermediate plumage stage. The photo also shows the overall sturdy
looking shape, which is convincing. I recall someone else making a big point though, that it is not actually true that
sparrowhawks have a longer middle toe than goshawks. However the toes appear thinner in
the sparrowhawks and in both, the
middle one is longer than the other 2 forward toes. What it is, is that the middle toe is longer, relative to the other toes, in the
sparrowhawks than in goshawks. In this photo there is not a big difference.
As for habitat, BG prefer to nest in Eucalypts & CS in prefer to nest in Conifers or similar looking trees. I don’t know how consistent that is.
Philip
From: Michael Craig [
Sent: Tuesday, 1 December 2015 10:51 PM To: Ken Bissett;
Subject: RE: [canberrabirds] ID help please
Ken,
I would say this is a brown goshawk. There are 3 ways to tell them apart, none of which are particularly easy and two of them aren't visible in this photo. The first is that a goshawk has a tail that is rounded at the end whereas a sparrowhawk's is square (i.e
straight across) at the end and typically has a little notch in the middle. The second is that sparrowhawks have legs that are much more slender than goshawks (and with a longer middle toe) and you can identify them on this alone with a bit of practice. The
third way is that goshawks have a brow ridge whereas sparrowhawks don't. This means that sparrowhawks "stare" while goshawks "frown". As this beautiful bird definitely looks like he's frowning at us, I'd be confident this bird is a Brown Goshawk. Very nice
photo!!
Cheers,
Mike
From: Ken Bissett
Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2015 5:17 PM
To:
Subject: [canberrabirds] ID help please
is this a brown goshawk or collared sparrowhawk and how to tell the difference please.
thanks
Jill/Ken
