ID Help – Square-tailed Black Kite?

By Birding-Aus, on March 21st, 2013

Hello again from Finland,

I would like to get a quick confirmation to a bird ID matter. The bird in question was photographed near Forbes, NSW in January, 2012 by my colleague Markku.

He was showing me some photos when we came across with this one he titled a Square-tailed Kite. I was immediately hit with the impression that the bird has too short wings and its face and fingers are too dark for a Square-tailed Kite, although the tail is not clearly notched. I said to him that I think it is a Black Kite, but he insists otherwise, so we would like someone local with experience to both species to settle the score.

My question is: Is this only a Black Kite that is moulting it’s tail (a so called “square-tailed” Black Kite) or is this really a Square-tailed Kite? I noticed that the middle feathers of the tail are very worn (pointy and long), but the outermost tail feathers seem fresh (shorter, but with a smooth round tip), which could support my initial reaction to the bird. But then again, I am happy to admit being wrong if that’s the case.

Opinions are well appreciated: http://www.harrynystrom.net/images/squaretailedblackkite.jpg

Cheers, -Harry ===============================

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Harry Nystr

March 21, 2013 at 6:47 pm

Hello everyone,

The jury has spoken: the bird is clearly a dark morph Little Eagle. I received almost 20 replies and they were (almost) unanimous.

Hmm, at least my original gut feeling was correct: not a Square-tailed Kite but something else. But I have to admit that it was a bird I didn’t originally even consider, as I had already forgotten about the dark morph (even though also I have seen one). Now that the correct species has been called, it’s easy to agree with the ID and see the things I originally missed while reviewing the photo. I think I learned a little something about identifying birds of prey, and I hope also others found this topic useful.

Thank you all for your input and help. I’ll pass the news along to my mate Markku.

Cheers, -Harry

2013/3/21 Philip Veerman

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"Mike Carter"

March 21, 2013 at 10:28 am

Interesting that this should come up now as we have just been discussing an instance from last weekend where these two species were confused. In that case my initial impression was that the bird photographed in flight, a dorsal view, was a Black Kite but in spite of short wings thought the perched bird was probably a Square-tailed Kite due to its rufous underparts. Both were shown to be Black Kite! So to see if I’ve learnt from that experience this bird is definitely NOT a Square-tailed Kite but neither is it a Black Kite. As others have said, it is a dark morph Little Eagle.

Mike Carter 30 Canadian Bay Road Mount Eliza VIC 3930 Tel (03) 9787 7136