Goshawk, sex and age (1 Viewer)

A week or so ago I wandered in the rain in an area of natural beauty near Stockholm with a couple of charming, knowledgeable and enthusiastic women who belong to a group that is trying to save the area from extensive exploitation in the form of house-building. I promised to send a web version of any bird pictures I take there for the group's homepage. I had my camera with me but only took pictures of one bird that day and only one of these was really sharp. There are other pictures though.

The Goshawk flew out of the woods and over the allotments where we stood before disappearing into a copse where the one of the women said that a pair of Goshawks nest. Shortly after the Goshawk disappeared I looked over to the woods again and saw a Sparrowhawk that looked really tiny in comparison to the Goshawk when it had been at the same distance but I couldn't see whether the Sparrowhawk was male or a female. It was too far off.

When I sent the picture to Eva yesterday she wanted to know the age and sex of the bird. I can see it's not a juvenile and it certainly looked big as it flew overhead so I'm guessing a female but I'm not sure and have no idea whether it's possible to say anything more about the age of the bird.

All help gratefully received!

Hi Graham!

It's not easy from a picture like this. The barring looks quite coarse and the ear coverts doesn't look very distinct to me. Thus I would say that it at least is not an older male. It doesn't look like a 2 cy bird either so my bet would be a probable 3 cy+ female.

Thanks you very much, Ola! I've got some other pictures from different angles that I can post this evening.

The others were more or from the same angle though different from the first one posted. This one is slightly less bad than the others..

Definitely an adult bird. I think this picture only confirms that it is a female judging mainly from the head pattern. A male should show more distinct and evenly blackish head and ear coverts.

Thank you very much indeed, Ola! I'll let the ladies know. And I guessed correctly too. :t: