Yes sure it is a Whistling Kite. Long, pale, rounded, unbarred tail is among the obvious reasons.
See yesterday’s message from Brian Hawkins copied here. Most likely the same bird. I had not thought that Whistling Kites would cause a lot of fuss among waterbirds.
Philip
Three excellent things happened on my (late) ride to work today:
- I was swooped by a magpie, the first time this year
- I saw 2 Rakalis/Water-rats confabbing in the middle of the lake, then going their separate ways – one appeared to be swimming all the way to the other side
- 2 Whistling Kites flew over, causing great consternation among the Masked Lapwings, cockatoos etc. They flew roughly from Yarralumla over the National Museum, then continued north. I didn’t have binos,
but the general light brown colour, straw-pale underwing panels, and distinctly long, flat/rounded tail left me with little doubt.
Brian
From: steven chivers [
Sent: Tuesday, 30 July, 2019 12:12 PM
To: <>
Subject: [canberrabirds] ID whistling kite please.
Hi everyone,
I need yet another confirmation of ID for a species I’ve never ID’d before! My guess is a whistling kite, due to the unbarred tail, and that the all the pics of a little eagle in my Bird Guide have it standing up on the perch, whereas the
whistling kite in the photo is ‘sitting’ as are the ones in my guide.
The kite soared in lazily from the south, spooking the pink-eared’s and sending the lapwings hysterical. It circled a few times around the trees in front of the popular group of hides on the west side of Kelly’s, then perched for a few
minutes, dipped again to the islands that the trees live on, and came up and perched in the same tree. Then I noticed it tearing at something in its talons. Unfortunately, I was hidden amongst the reeds south of the hides, and never had a good view (this pic
is taken at 840 mm equivalent through the reeds, and heavily cropped). I wonder what it caught? Seems fairly small, perhaps a crake??
Also saw/photo’d a reed warbler today at Kelly’s Swamp, I noticed it has never been recorded at the JB Wetlands hotspot on ebird before in July, so I’ll submit a list for it this morning with photo’s attached.
Steve.
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