From: Judith L-A <jlukin01@postoffice.csu.edu.au>
Subject: Fwd: which hawk ?
To: Judith L-A <jlukin01@postoffice.csu.edu.au>
Thanks, guys. As you see, the various measurements fall between the 2 species, & I remain uncertain. The bird is in the fridge so I can still photograph it, & will add close-ups of the head, foot & toes, beak, & tail-tip.
From: Judithla <jlukin01@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2020, 3:28 pm
Subject: which hawk ?
To: <birding-aus@birding-aus.org>
Greetings, all.
Here are measurements for an Accipiter found dead yesterday on the back landing here, beneath a hard-sheltered water bowl frequented by local passerines. These measurements I’ve compared with the following refs (& their diagrams), reaching an uncertain conclusion—
Menkhorst et al, 2017
Simpson & Day, 2004
Debus, 1998
Morcombe, 2000
*
The bird’s neck is broken. In the hand it feels broad-shouldered & “heavy”. Puzzlingly the beak & cere are all-black, with just the slightest whitish thread separating them.
Ventrally, chest-down the bird is finely barred rufous/white. There is a chestnut breast-band > slight dorsal half-collar. Dorsally the bird is brownish grey, & the head slate-grey. Brow-ridges are distinct. Tail is barred with a ventral bluish cast.
Measures are in CENTIMETRES, taken with a retracting metal household tape:
LENGTH bill>tail-tip 37
WEIGHT 257g
WINGspan 56 ventrally (incl. chest)
Single wingspread 30 dorsally (longest flight-feather > shoulder joint)
TAIL appears notched —
17.5 dorsally (from feather-base), 17 ventrally (from below cloaca)
BILL 1.5 (+cere=2)
Middle TOE 4.4 (incl. claw): appears longer by one-third than the neighbouring two. (Cannot be well-measured due to rigor, & damage.)
*
Two choices… What do you think?
Judith
SEQ 500m
