Thread
Print

Grey-faced Buzzard? Besra? Crest Goshawk??Come and discuss~!

Why isn't it a juvenile Crested Goshawk?

TOP

Interesting. I think all of the pictures look like Crested Gos. I would be interested to know why majority opinion seems to be favouring Grey-faced Buzzard over the commoner Crested Goshawk.

It's clearly a relatively large, bulky raptor, with thick, strong legs. This rules out the smaller Accipiters (Besra, Japanese, Chinese, Eurasian). The legs are relatively long, however - longer than on pictures of Grey-faced. Also with long 'trousers'.
The underparts are fairly poorly marked and pale, with 'fluffy' undertail coverts. This is typical of a younger Crested Gos, but I would expect Grey-faced to be more marked below.
The head pattern has a hint of a supercilium, but not as obvious and pronounced as I would expect for a young Grey-faced.
The wings are relatively short and broad. Look especially at the primary projection and the length of the wing relative to the tail on the perched bird. Photos of Grey-faced show the wing and tail to be similar in length. In flight, this is reflected in the long, parallel-sided wings of Grey-faced, not shown on these photos.

Compare with these pitcures of Grey-faced to illustrate what I mean (I know these are taken in spring, but many of the features remain the same, especially structure)

http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/view ... rey-faced%2BBuzzard
http://www.hkbws.org.hk/BBS/view ... rey-faced%2BBuzzard

TOP

Thread