brendank 16/10/2010 22:05
Japanese Sparrohawk?
In an effort to be confused by every species of HK accipiter, I managed to find this bird today. I had this bird perched at Mai Po at a distance. Then one half hour I had this bird or maybe a different bird perched in the area much closer to me. I think the two pictures are the same bird but I am not even sure of that. I suppose it could just be a Besra but the supercilium looks so strong in the first the picture and the dark bands seem very thin in the first picture.
What do the raptor experts think?
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kmike 17/10/2010 07:37
Richard Lewthwaite and I also saw this bird today.
We initially thought it looked big enough for a Crested Goshawk, but eventually it was clear that it it was a Besra.
Cheers
Mike K
lpaul 17/10/2010 08:42
Based on structure alone this has to be a Besra; the primary projection is remarkably short eliminating Japanese :
[url]http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=9&Bird_ID=905&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1[/url]
[url]http://www.birdskorea.org/Gallery/Species/BK-GA-Accipiter-gularis.shtml[/url]
and the long and obviously thin tarsi eliminate Crested:
[url]http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=8&Bird_ID=850&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1[/url]
The tail barring as an id feature for separating Besra and Japanese applies to the upperside of the tail only.
[[i] Last edited by lpaul at 17/10/2010 09:37 [/i]]
brendank 17/10/2010 20:15
Thanks, Mike and Paul. That is a good point regarding the primary projections on this bird. They are too short for Japanese.