Small raptors from Zimbabwe (1 Viewer)

Hi, I´m struggling a bit with these small raptors seen in Mana Pools NP. This was at Kanga camp, pretty far inland, many km away from the river.

All African Goshawks? I´m also considering juvenile Shikra for the first one because of the distinct supercilium, and Little Sparrowhawk for the last bird because the cere seems to be yellowish (see the heavy crop).

Thanks in advance!

1. bold markings on flank and grey cere are good for African Goshawk
2. white markings on tail and cere good for African Goshawk
3. difficult! both African Gos and Little can look like this but Little is so much smaller, easy to see in the field, if it was not really really small it was a Gos

Thanks a lot Tom! Always difficult to tell from memory (it was 1 1/2 months ago) but I do think the third one was appreciably smaller but I´m not completely sure anymore.

Hi all,

Generally concur with Tom. The problem with using bare part colours and markings derived from photos to identify this difficult group is that they are often not definitive enough for positive identification.

Looking mainly at photo #1 the OTF's are actually rounded as in gos and the rear of the legs show the proportionally, shorter, thicker tibia of gos. This together with the colours and markings mentioned, is convincing. Also notice that at least one primary is missing\broken in birds #1&2. Finally little sparrowhawk is really that tiny, body size is intermediate between song and mistle thrushes. Some African Gos can be same size as large female Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Most would perceive last photos to show a bird at least as large as the biggest of sparrowhawks?

Thank you Bryon - so you think the third one is a Goshawk as well?