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Gray or Gray-lined Hawk (1 Viewer)

alanc

Just an earthbound misfit
England
This guy seen about 15km south of Jaco on the Pacific coast of
Costa Rica over Christmas. Looks very similar to me to the Gray-lined Hawk
but not sure if the location is too far north. The tail pattern is ok for GLH
Any comments?
thanks alan
 

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You can see some barring on the coverts visible, and the gray bars on the chest appear similar in color to the mantle / upper side of the bird. However these are hard to interpret from one photo from this angle. The tail band is also hard to say anything about conclusively. It certainly looks interesting but I wouldn't hang my hat on it.

Any other photos?
 
Hi Dave and Andy
Thankyou both for your comments. I do have other photos but they are very similar to the one posted so won't be of help. I did notice the white areas on the leading edges of the folded wings which appear to be very similar to
Gray lined. I reckon the location was about 80 miles or so north of the Osa peninsular. i know that other s american species are being recorded further north than usual so can range be strictly applied?
alan

Here is one more photo
 

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I am not certain that the range is really understood at such a fine grain yet, and I don't think the location you describe is so far out of range to be that much of an attention grabber. Raptors fly well, even resident species!
 
Thanks PBJosh. Yes - The GL is recorded in Panama (I'm not sure how often) and this location is only around 160 miles N of the border.
alan
 
Thanks neils
The exact location of my bird was Estorillo Oeste which is just slightly north of another sighting noted on the ebird map.
alan
 
You can see some barring on the coverts visible, and the gray bars on the chest appear similar in color to the mantle / upper side of the bird. However these are hard to interpret from one photo from this angle. The tail band is also hard to say anything about conclusively. It certainly looks interesting but I wouldn't hang my hat on it.

Any other photos?

Looks spot on for GlH to me, probably another bar being hidden by the wire and certainly doesn't fit grey Hawk.



A
 
Can't go by range too much in Costa Rica although most Gray-lineds seem to occur from around Dominical to Panama. Unfortunately, this bird is close enough to that area to be either species. Also unfortunately, given the lighting on the head and angle of the bird, I doubt one can definitively say which one it is. Since the wings seems darker, it's tempting to still call it a Gray but I wouldn't feel comfortable identifying it to species unless I could see it from behind, in flight, or if it vocalized.
 
Thankyou Patrick.
the bird was perched on a wire on the main road, (I think from memory it iss route 34), anyhow traffic and hazardous parking meant I couldn't get more pics from different angles. Its a shame as a view from the side or behind might have helped.
Thanks for taking a look
alan
 
Hey - I'm no expert with GH but i know GLH and based on this article:

http://ebird.org/content/camerica/news/was-that-a-gray-hawk-or-a-gray-lined-hawk-i-just-saw/?lang=en


I think, IF you were to choose, you have a grey hawk... Notice the contrast between the under and upper parts in your bird (not easy to see due to the angle but you can see the barring isn't as pronounced on its left wing and there is more grey than white between the barring, just about).

I've attached a pic of a GLH in an almost similar position I took recently - less contrast between the under and upper parts in that species and it looks more unfirom.

edit: forget what I said above, looking at the undertail it's looking much more like GLH with broad bars than GH is supposed to..
 

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edit: forget what I said above, looking at the undertail it's looking much more like GLH with broad bars than GH is supposed to..

That's what I said, the tail should be a reliable feature and the OP clearly has wide tail bars, wider hence fewer than GH should have?


A
 
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