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A couple of WP curios. (1 Viewer)

StuartReeves

Local rarity
I've been a bit slow in writing-up my recent travels, so until I do get around to it, here's a couple of interesting birds as a little teaser and taster. I know what they are (I think!) but I'm curious to see how straightforward they are when taken out of context.

Over to you folks,

Stuart
 

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First one maybe a juvenile Moussier's Redstart. Raptors in flight are always tricky, even in context, so I might come back to that one!
 
I reckon that Guldenstadt's Redstart is the one that is correctly identified. The other one looks like a juvenile Honey Buzzard or an Oriental Honey Buzzard. I don't know how to separate them, and since the bird seems to have only five fingers, I would be tempted to guess Honey Buzzard, but since the quiz was about WP curios, I'll try Oriental Honey Buzzard instead.
 
I reckon that Guldenstadt's Redstart is the one that is correctly identified. The other one looks like a juvenile Honey Buzzard or an Oriental Honey Buzzard. I don't know how to separate them, and since the bird seems to have only five fingers, I would be tempted to guess Honey Buzzard, but since the quiz was about WP curios, I'll try Oriental Honey Buzzard instead.

I think that's close enough. The pictures how a juv. Guldenstadt's Redstart and a juv. Honey Buzzard. The curios aspect referred more to the plumages in each case rather than the rarity of the species. I haven't found any illustrations or references to juvenile Guldenstadt's showing that big white wing patch, but this presumably means that it was a male. The photo was taken in India in August and the identification was made easier by the fact that it was begging food off of dad (pictured below).

The Honey Buzzard photo was taken at Falsterbo in Sweden in early September. I have never previously seen one that streaky underneath, and again I haven't managed to find any photos or illustrations of this plumage variant. I confess the photo did cause me to look-up the features of Oriental Honey Buzz, but as CAU noted, the number of 'fingers' means that it is just an ordinary Honey. The picture below shows the individual and the plumage a bit more clearly.

Stuart
 

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Thanks for the quiz and interesting pics! I'm actually very happy that the bird is a common Honey Buzzard, checked some photos after my answer yesterday and came to the conclusion that the wingtips look very wrong for Oriental HB...
 
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