I think I agree with this (CSH and BG), but I'm not sure about the top bird in
the first photo.
I must admit I've been confused by the term "square tail". Does this refer to
the "sharpness" of the corners, or the straightness of the end? Looking at the
sihouettes of both species in figures 8.3 and 8.4 of Stephen Debus's "Birds of
Prey of Australia", I'm thinking it's both but mainly the latter.
In all his drawings of spread Collared Sparrowhawk tails, the tips are in a
dead straight line - there's no bulging out of the inner feathers at all. He
descibes it as "square or notched". The inner tail feathers of the upper bird
in the fist photo do very definitely bulge outwards, but not as much as in his
drawings of spread Brown Goshawk tails. The lower bird's ragged tail has a
very definite bulge. I don't know how much regrowing feathers can affect this
bulge. What order do they moult in?
He says the Brown Goshawk has a longer head and neck, and the upper bird in the
first photo does appear to have a shorter head/neck than the lower.
He also says that the CSH wing has a more rounded trailing edge, and this also
appears to be true in the first photo.
There are also those who say you simply can't tell without a close look at the
middle toe.
Peter Shute
________________________________________
From: On
Behalf Of Anthony Molyneux
Sent: Sunday, 7 June 2009 3:18 PM
To:
Subject: Brown Goshawk/Collared Sparrowhawk?
My opinion is two females. An adult female Collared S/hawk chasing an immature
female Goshawk and most likely trying to push the immature out of her
territory.==============================www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
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