whatever your hobby, this is a Hobby

[Jonny Schoenjahn <>]

Hi Chris,

your are excused, raptors can be difficult to separate. This one is a Hobby. I believe it is a juvenile judging by the underbody, which is missing the adult’s ‘arrowheads’. The head pattern is striking, no other Australian bird of prey has it. Nevertheless the Hobby may be confused with a Peregrine, but the latter has a large dark hood, and is not rufous on the underparts. Brown Falcon seems to me further away. Their underparts are not as strongly marked, flight feathers and tail are much lighter, and the Brown Falcon has brown ‘thighs’, or brown ’shorts’ perhaps, contrasting with the beige surrounding feathers, and legs!

Don’t despair, and don’t give up.

Merry Christmas

Jonny

Dr. Jonny Schoenjahn
Perth, Western Australia

http://www.jonnybird-australia.com/greyfalcon.htm

On 23 Dec 2020, at 1:26 pm, Chris Shaw <> wrote:

My mystery bird for Christmas is this raptor I photographed above the Stuart Highway on my way to Newhaven back in 2011. I have made a wild bet (usually wrong) but I would appreciate your views and reasons so I can label it correctly... just in case it is something else...

https://www.ararelitus.com/birds-1

Regards

Chris Shaw

+61 409 675912

https://www.ararelitus.com

Experts possess more data than judgment.
COLIN POWELL, attributed, Doing Business in the New Latin America

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