After opening up the images (deliberately) without reading the rest of Harry’s email, my first thought was (and remains) definitely Brown Goshawk. Seems to be some tail moult going on. The hooded effect Harry refers to is created by the strong light. The bird looks too strong and stocky for the much more finely built Sparrowhawk, but I acknowledge looking at images on a computer may deceive…
Andrew
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Hello everyone,
I’ve received numerous replies to my query and would like to thank each and every one of you for your answers. I will try to answer everyone also personally if I’ll have the time.
The votes were cast as follows: Brown Goshawk (BG) 10 vs. Collared Sparrowhawk (CS) 2, which means that the “jury” has been almost unanimous in its verdict: the bird in the photos is a Brown Goshawk. I think the most definite answer was that of Mr. Stephen Debus, which concluded that he favors the bird as a Brown Goshawk. Thank you to Greg for forwarding the messages (mine and Stephen’s) back and forth. I think I have learned a lot of these two species based on everyone’s replies. The main characteristics that were referred to were:
1) Tail shape (highly referred to) – the rounded effect that comes from the slightly longer central tail feathers points strongly to BG compared to the square-cut or even slightly notched tail tip of the CS. 2) Wing shape – the photos gave a slightly inconsistent feel compared to the usual characteristics, but usually the trailing edge of the wing should be more S-curved with CS. 3) Body and wing size -relation (highly referred to) – the bird was consistently depicted as stocky or heavily built or even beefy, which is very typical for a BG (and not at all for a slim CS). 4) Head and neck projection – too long a projection for a CS. 5) Coloration of primaries – CS has more boldly barred primaries, which probably would show more clearly in the photos.
The hooded effect has received some speculation about the age, but nothing else, so it is probably not related to the species, but only to the plumage (immature?).
I also wondered if the jizz differs a lot between our local Accipiters and Australian ones. What I meant by this, was that in Europe, the Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Northern Goshawk are quite easy to distinguish from each other based on the jizz. Of course, experience is needed and beginners struggle with it, but it is quite rare to see an individual, which cannot be conclusively said to be either one of the two. In Australia, the difference in the jizz between a Brown Goshawk and a Collared Sparrowhawk seems to be much more subtle, so the identification is not as straightforward, but can be done with enough experience from both species.
I think that my experience of the European cousins of these two Accipiters helped me to pick the bird from my photos for re-evaluation regarding its ID. Something just didn’t feel right for a Sparrowhawk, so I thought to get a local opinion on the species. And this time, it seems it was a good call. Thank you once more, I really do appreciate it.
Based on the help I received from all of you, I think I’ll use your help again in the future.
Cheers, -Harry
2013/1/9 martin cachard
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Brown Goshawk for mine – heavilly built, tail still rounded but moult looks like it’s occurring – just looks way too beefy for a sparrowhawk to me…
cheers Martin Cachard Cairns
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