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Pantanal, immature Hawks for ID check (1 Viewer)

ugolino

Well-known member
Dear all,
I saw a good number of immature hawks this last summer in the Pantanal. I would reallly appreciate you taking time to confirm or invalidate my calls.
I think that 1 and 2 are Savanna
I think that 3 and 4 are Great Black
I am not sure about 5, but guesses that it migh be black-collared
Am I right ?
thank you in advance, ugolino
 

Attachments

  • Savanna Hawk (juvenile) BRA 1432.JPG
    Savanna Hawk (juvenile) BRA 1432.JPG
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  • Savanna Hawk (juvenile) BRA 8553.JPG
    Savanna Hawk (juvenile) BRA 8553.JPG
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  • Great Black Hawk (juvenile) BRA 6052.JPG
    Great Black Hawk (juvenile) BRA 6052.JPG
    264.6 KB · Views: 38
  • Great Black Hawk (juvenile) BRA 6662.JPG
    Great Black Hawk (juvenile) BRA 6662.JPG
    181.9 KB · Views: 41
  • Black-collared Hawk (juvenile) BRA 4990.JPG
    Black-collared Hawk (juvenile) BRA 4990.JPG
    168.6 KB · Views: 50
1 - Savanna, the barred chest is about all you need but face and tail confirm

2 - Great Black, the tail rules out Savanna. The dark marks on either side of the upper chest are a good mark.

3 - Looks like Great Black again. At first glance the tail appears long and I thought Harris's actually, but several things (bill color, heavy tarsi) rule that out and you do see again the dark marks on the outside of the upper chest.

4 - Savanna, barred chest and tail pattern distinctive.

5 - Gray-lined hawk, the face pattern, barred chest, tail pattern, and structure. Black-collared is much shorter tailed and a much different structure and would never show the barred chest.
 
Thank you so much pbjosh, your reasonning is incredibly clear.
I am however still confused about the last photo which you are calling Grey (Gray) lined Hawk.
I attach a photo of a bird taken in Ecuador a few years ago which i had also called (perhaps wrongly) a juvenile Grey-lined... the tail pattern is so different. Was it a wrong identification or is the Ecuadorian bird a juvenile and the Brazilian bird an immature ?
It is pretty confusing, and I apologise for questionning your call. Trying to learn from those who know.
thank you in advance, ugolino
 

Attachments

  • Grey-lined Hawk (juvenile) ECU 1559.JPG
    Grey-lined Hawk (juvenile) ECU 1559.JPG
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Your bird from Ecuador is definitely a juvenile Gray/Gray-lined Hawk, depending on where in the country it was taken.

For your Brazil bird - the barred chest and structure pretty much point at one of these possibilities - Gray-lined Hawk, Double-toothed Kite, or an Accipiter. Hook-billed Kite, Forest-Falcons, Ornate Hawk-Eagle and Crested Eagle are pretty easily eliminated :)

To me, the tail color, head shape, eye size and color, and particularly facial pattern rule out Rufous-thighed Hawk (as well as Tiny Hawk or the unbarred Bicolored Hawk). Double-toothed kite has a bit of a blocky, small headed look, but again, as far as I know, shouldn't show that facial pattern. The facial pattern is really classic for Gray/gray-lined, the tail pattern is good, and the structure and other field marks check out.

It is well within possibility that there is regional and/or individual variation in the barring of the tails of juveniles, I would not know. As well, I don't think the tails in the two photos are so different, to some degree you are seeing the bottom-most, widest bars on the Ecuador bird and the rest of the tail is obscured which changes the impression somewhat.

However, everyone mis-ID's juvenile raptors, myself regularly, and I'm not pretending to be an authority here, just trying to give the extent of my reasoning.
 
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