***Red Kite? (Possible Long-legged Buzzard in UK) (1 Viewer)

TerryH

Well-known member

• Jun 17, 2003

• #1

These two were over our garden in Huntingdon on Sunday afternoon. The smaller of the two is I believe a Sparrow Hawk the second much larger bird from trying to match up with flight drawings is possibly a Red kite can anyone confirm please.

We watched them for about 20 minutes the Hawk was flying around the Kite and then attacking it. On its patch I suppose.

Terry

 

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Michael Frankis

conehead

• Jun 17, 2003

• #2

Common Buzzard & Sparrowhawk. The Buzzard is in moult, missing its innermost primaries and central pair of tail feathers.

Sorry, no Red Kite, that has a very different shape (including the famous forked tail)

Michael

 

TerryH

Well-known member

• Jun 17, 2003

• #3

Thanks Micheal,

It was the fan shaped tail that made me think it was a Kite anyway I'm pleased it was a Buzzard we don't see many locally
and not for such a good display.

 

H

HH75

Well-known member

• Jun 18, 2003

• #4

Hi Michael,
Sparrowhawk I agree with,but could that Buteo be an escaped Red-tailed Hawk?Thought of Long-legged Buzzard when I saw the photo first!!
Harry H

 

CJW

Hit-and-run WUM

• Jun 18, 2003

• #5

I'm with Harry, my first thought was Red-tailed Hawk.

 

A

A Twang Theme

Member

• Jun 28, 2003

• #6

Looks to big for a red tailed hawk.

 

M

Malvolio

Well-known member

• Jun 28, 2003

• #7

How do you know?

 

sparroweye

Well-known member

• Jun 29, 2003

• #8

Hi Terry, My first thought was red-tailed hawk, but then I am not familiar with raptors in the UK. By the way, I have visited Huntingdon as my grandmother's father had a monument shop on High Street. It is now a craft and yarn shop. Also, St. Mary's was her church. Lovely little town. How about the birds call, red-tailed hawks are very distinctive.

 

A

A Twang Theme

Member

• Jun 30, 2003

• #9

Malvolio said:

How do you know?

Click to expand...

I have a friend who keeps one!!!



here is one of my piccies.

 

A

A Twang Theme

Member

• Jun 30, 2003

• #10

Also the head looks to light, red tailed hawks have red feathering on there heads.


here is one of my piccies.

 

Michael Frankis

conehead

• Jun 30, 2003

• #11

Red-tailed Hawk is actually slightly larger than our Buzzard (and the call almost the same), so not too much help there!

Michael

 

M

Mark D

BOG member

• Jun 30, 2003

• #12

Hi all,

My first thoughts were of Red-taild Hawk but upon closer inspection and a bit of a discussion with a friend I now don't think it can be one. RTH has a pronounced dark leading edge to the underwing which does vary a little bit according to the drawings in Sibley but should be more evident in a pale bird such as the one photographed. Also the bird in the photo's has a dark carpal patch something that RTH doesn't have in all pale phase drawings in Sibley.

Mark

 

Jane Turner

Well-known member

• Apr 25, 2004

• #13

This is an interesting bird, presumably its just a Common Buzzard, perhaps one of the Eastern race, is it vulpinis

 

B

Bluetail

Senior Moment

• Apr 25, 2004

• #14

Plumage-wise I guess it has to be a Common Buzzard (plenty of red-tailed ones down here). However it sure does look longer- and narrower-winged than normal - and I do see a lot of them. I read that vulpinus is longer-winged than the nominate race - but the date probably makes this an outsider.

 

H

HH75

Well-known member

• Apr 26, 2004

• #15

Hi all,
I've now decided,given that there is no dark 'leading edge' to the underwing,that the bird was far more likely to have been an unusually rufous-tailed Common Buzzard,presumably just buteo?Can hybrid Common Buzzard x Red-tailed Hawk be fully ruled out,unlikely as this may be?
Harry

 

Michael Frankis

conehead

• Apr 29, 2004

• #16

Harry Hussey said:

Hi all,
I've now decided,given that there is no dark 'leading edge' to the underwing,that the bird was far more likely to have been an unusually rufous-tailed Common Buzzard,presumably just buteo?Can hybrid Common Buzzard x Red-tailed Hawk be fully ruled out,unlikely as this may be?
Harry

Click to expand...

Hi Harry,

There's certainly records of escaped Red-tailed Hawks pairing up with Buzzards, tho' I've not heard if any have bred successfully.

Michael

 

C

CAU

Well-known member

• Oct 14, 2007

• #17

If found this thread in the "Index for ID Q&A"-thread, where the bird in the pictures was labelled as a "Common Buzzard with unusually pale tail". However, I do not think it is one, and that the bird looks very much like a 2nd c.y. Long-legged Buzzard:

-the newly moulted central retrices, are very pale with an orange tinge, seemingly lacking any barring
-even the juvenal retrices have a reddish tinge
-the carpal patches are solidly dark
-the belly is dark, but the breast and head are pale
-the lesser underwing coverts are rather pale, contrasting only slightly against the median coverts
-the body of the bird looks wide and heavy and the wings look rather long.

I even asked Dick Forsman about this bird, and his reply was that it isn't a Common Buzzard, and could very well be a Long-legged Buzzard, but the pictures lack the detail to identify it with certainty, it could for example also be an (escaped) Upland Buzzard (Buteo hemilasius) or something like that.

 

JANJ

Well-known member

• Oct 14, 2007

• #18

Glad you brought this up CAU, had my eyes on this quite a while ago, immediate impression 2cy Long-legged Buzzard - thinking it had all the verifying characters and looking more robust than Steppe Buzzard (and Common Buzzard)

JanJ

 

aythya_hybrid

real name Jonathan Dean

• Oct 14, 2007

• #19

Terry H has not been active on here since 2004, according to his profile. He might end up becoming the only person with LL Buzzard on his UK list but never even realise it!!

 

C

CAU

Well-known member

• Oct 14, 2007

• #20

JANJ said:

Glad you brought this up CAU, had my eyes on this quite a while ago

JanJ

Click to expand...

No problem, I too had been wondering about these images for a while.

aythya_hybrid said:

Terry H has not been active on here since 2004, according to his profile. He might end up becoming the only person with LL Buzzard on his UK list but never even realise it!!

Click to expand...

Well, I must say it is quite a coincidence that a photograph of a presumed Red Kite ends up being identified as a LL/Upland Buzzard (or maybe a hybrid between them or something else). However, I do think that LL Buzzards can sometimes find their way even to the UK, a few years ago there was a record from Utsira, which is an island about 30 km off the cost of south-western Norway. Though I don't know how easily a LL Buzzard would be accpted into category A...

It's a pity that Terry's pictures weren't a notch better... I don't know what details are required to be seen to separate the two species. However, Upland Buzzards have usually broader wings, and the wings of Terry's bird look admittedly fairly broad.