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Juvenile Accipiter ID (1 Viewer)

S

Sumit

Well-known member
Hi Folks!
At the outset let me mention that this could be a tough one. This one has done the rounds in many forums and no positive ID has emerged till date. Also, some members may not be familiar with far-eastern species.

I think it is fair to add some details:
1. Shot in Kolkata (Calcutta), India last November
2. Bird in the 30-35 cm range (not very useful!)
3. Seen near paddy-fields, most obvious prey seemed to be amphibians and reptiles.
4. Kolkata is in eastern India and the known/possible accipiters in the area are:
Shikra (a. badius)- most common accipiter
Eurasian Sparrowhawk (a. nisus) - no known records
Besra (a. virgatus) - no known records
2 others considered possible are:
Chinese Sparrowhawk (a. soloensis)
Japanese Sparrowhawk (a. gularis)

I have witnessed some wonderful work on this forum. So I thought it well worth submitting this bird to the members.

I can add the short-list, but that may add bias. Maybe, later, if the thread develops!

Sumit
 

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And why not Spar? Most experts who have commented were focused on the fact that the bird was photographed in eastern India. We really need an un-biased set of trained eyes for this one. Thanks!
 
Hi Sumit,

Interesting bird. Accipiter nisus can be ruled out, that never has that breast pattern, it always has horizontal barring.

One not mentioned: A. brevipes (Levant Sparrowhawk) I think can be excluded by the bright yellow iris (should be brown, but immatures paler - whether they can be this much paler, I don't know) - otherwise, the plumage & size match well, and it is a long-distance migrant which could theoretically turn up in India.

Sorry, can't comment on Chinese or Japanese S'hawks, I'm not familiar with them and don't have any decent literature on them.

Michael
 
Thanks Guys!
Let me help this along a bit.
Initially, the bird was identified as a Juv. Chinese Sparrowhawk. As that would have been the 1st record for mainland India ( the bird is found in the Nicobar islands, which is pretty far from the mainland), serious attention was focused on the ID. There were equal yea's and No's to a. soloensis but interestingly, any other choice was shot down with authority. So we ran the gamut of Eurasian, Japanese ,Besra and Shikra to eliminate all of them. No alternate ID emerged till Michael's Levant.
The problem (with the soloensis ID) was compounded because the Chinese Sparrowhawk is little known, and those who know it well do not communicate well in english.
The issue (when last discussed) was down to wing size. Is this a migrants wing-size ? If yes, it is most likely a.soloensis. Some experts feel that the wings are to small for a long-distance migrant and rule out a.soloenis on that basis.

Hope that rather long note adds value.

Cheers!
Sumit
 
Good morning, gentlemen. It's 6:30 a.m. and I have a bit of a hangover. I have never seen an immature solensis, just adults, and just flying overhead; the species however is famous for having no supercilium.

What is it that rules out gularis, Larry? I am rather taken with the heaviness of the barring/blotching under.
 
Been checking a few more references, and I can't find anything which suggests A. brevipes ever has a bright yellow iris like this. So I guess that can be excluded safely after all.

Michael
 
Before this thread peters away, I thought I’d share an interesting experience connected with the identification of this bird. A well-known expert and author of field-guides wanted another image to check the angles. I had 3 shots, all pretty similar (I don’t know, as yet, how to ask a Sparrowhawk to turn around) and queried if the image was not clear enough to make an ID. The reply was something to the effect that this was not an illustration and hence did not highlight the salient features (which would aid identification).

Which brings me to the whole point of tools for field identification. Is a quality image better than somebody’s note or sketch to establish identity? Is it easier to identify Elizabeth Taylor from a sketch done when she was sleeping than a photograph?

Do you think this will be an interesting thread to start or has this been already done?

Having noted that Charles has joined the thread I ran this through spell and grammar check. All errors are attributable to Microsoft Word.

Sumit
 
Hi Sumit,

That (the field guide author's remark) must surely have been tongue-in-cheek?!

There is already a thread over the respective advantages / disadvantages of paintings vs photos in field guides, no idea where to find it though. It came down heavily in favour of paintings, but it only deals with illustating features, not identifying UFOs.

As for getting hawks to turn round . . . maybe making some squeaking noises to attract its atention might work, but it'll just as likely scare it off . . .

Michael

PS Never trust spellcheckers. They mangle most bird names and scientific terminology something awful.
 
Thanks Michael. I actually fed in all the scientific names into the spell-checker for my web-site. Very useful when I upload new info.
Sumit
 
Sorry, Grousemore. There is no verdict till date. No one can agree on any single ID. The majority voted for a.soloensis but those who voted against carry as much weight. I think the issue is compounded by the fact that there seem to be no good image of a.soloensis juvenile to compare.
My gut feeling is that this was a.soloensis ( based on terrain found and habits). If it was, it is likely to occur again in the region. By raising awareness, it is likely that field-watchers will not tick every accipiter in the region as a Shikra by rote. I am happy if that leads to an acceptable identification of the species in the region.
Sumit
 
I'd go for Japanese Sparrowhawk (A. gularis) for this one though it's far from easy. The relatively narrow tail bars are good for gularis as is the head pattern and perhaps especially the heavily patterned neck sides. The flank barring does look rather broad for gularis but may be within range. Chinese Sparrowhawk (A, soloensis) should show broader dark tail bars I believe and a longer primary projection but accipiter identification in Asia is still in its infancy. I'm not totally convinced that this bird couldn't just be a sub-ad. Shikra (A. badius) (as the tail barring suggests) though it would have to have abnormally broadly barred flanks.

Actually, the only species that can be eliminated with reasonable certainty are Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Crested and Northern Goshawks!

Spud
 
Thanks Spud.
I think the real struggle started with a.badius and people who see a fair amount of this common species are of the opinion that it is most unlike any Shikra they have seen. Marc Herremans who had worked on a.badius as well as a.soloensis felt that: "there appears to be only a few indistinct and widely-spaced tail bars: this would also point more to soloensis than to badius". He was, however, unable to come to a conclusion based on the evidence available.
regards,
Sumit
 
Hi Sumit,

I agree that Shikra is one of the less likely candidates but wonder whether a non-Shikra like appearance might be the result of a migrant bird of the race cenchroides occuring in an area where people are used to seeing mainly dussumieri race birds?

Nevertheless, I do think it most likely either Japanese or Chinese Sparrowhawk or perhaps Besra (although the tail barring looks far to narrow for that). The pale but heavily streaked neck sides are a very striking feature on this bird and if a study of skins was undertaken would undoubtedly be a feature worth concentrating on. My limited access to images of the three species suggests that this is a typical feature of Japanese but I couldn't confirm that it is diagnostic.

I still don't think the wings look long enough for Chinese, comparing the length of the primary projection beyond the tertials to the length of the tertials themselves gives a roughly equivalent distance whereas in Chinese the primary projection should be significantly longer. That said, the fact that there are four rather than three tail bars may point to Chinese rather than Japanese, this too would be worth checking in skins as would the position of the primary tips in relation to these bars.

A most instructive bird, even if it tells us just how little we know!

Spud
 
Hi Spud,

I'd be very cautious about measuring primary extension relative to tail bars on skins, as skins are often stretched or shrunk into positions completely different from their natural positions!

Michael
 
Hi Michael,

I'd be very cautious about suggesting that nisus never shows this breast pattern when in fact it is the normal breast pattern of all juvenile nisus. It's the pattern of the ear-coverts that rules out nisus.

Spud
 
Hi Spud,

So you're saying every field guide is wrong in showing juv nisus with bars, rather than round/vertical blotches?

This is consistently cited as e.g. the easy way to tell juv nisus from juv brevipes, that nisus is barred at all ages, whereas juv brevipes has blotches, not bars

Michael
 
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