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UK/Raptor ID please (1 Viewer)

I was seeing Dodo in the bill Dan, so lemur is really quite possible

Another blow up of the full head.

Spectacled lemur-hawk Owl it is
 

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Just come across this fascinating thread. For what it's worth my immediate impression is one of the snake eagles - most likely Short-toed - as it appears to have
  • large, yellow, forward-facing eyes
  • a large, shaggy, owl-like head (look at the back of the head)
  • two-tone grey bill
  • pale underparts with darker spotting
  • greyish head and wings

I think the hawthorn measurement scale is a red berring...
 
Aside from being in Lancashire, a short-toed Eagle wouldn't be able to sit in a Hawthorn bush, it would be obliged to be on top.

Leaves and berries are really quite consistently sized compared to known birds

http://www.devonbirding.co.uk/Staines 17.10.09 - Copy.JPG
http://www.pixelbirds.co.uk/image860.jpg
http://thumb9.shutterstock.com.edge...-opened-and-it-is-visible-tongue-34335340.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2357/2520768451_8793b486d6.jpg
http://www.vutrax.co.uk/imgofday/20...t to swallow 06 of 10 (crop)(r+mb id@576).jpg

Micro STE was my first suggestion mind!
 
Nope

I was wondering the same - please don't take any offence Gradders52. Did you ever find that Canary in those bushes? Or was it a Wren / Nightingale /Tree Pipit......?

cheers, a

No offence taken... Simple answer is NO, never did track it down. Sadly it disappeared a few days later and was deep in t'bush, so no sightings or better recordings available. (However... I may revisit what I do have... watch this space!). No other experienced takers to check it out for/with me either I'm afraid.

Do also have what is apparently a chiffchaff singing VERY oddly 'chinka chinka', 'chinka chinka' but couldn't face loading that on here right now... maybe on a cold winters day when nowt's 'appening. It has been singing in the same area, from different trees within 50 yards of each other for three months, poor thing. Billy no mates!

Weird in these 'ere parts!

(I blame it on the nuclear plant up the road – Yes there is one 'Springfiled', reprocessing isotype rods or something... uranium oxide pellets and uranium hexafluoride apparently ... liquid waste goes into River Ribble and solid waste into Clifton Waste Tip, also on banks of the Ribble.... you want to try cleaning my windows!).

"The public may be exposed to radiation as a result of the operations of the Springfields site either from discharges of liquid or gaseous radioactive wastes into the local environment, or from radiation emanating directly from the site."
http://www.cefas.co.uk/media/71357/springfields-final-report-public-version.pdf

Only this 'raptor' wasn't near here, so we digress.... back on thread.
g
 
UPDATE
if it helps... from the source

"I had watched it for about twenty minutes. It flew up and down the valley beneath me, stopping occasionally on the dry stone walls. I sat under the Hawthorns enjoying the view, it was between 9.00 and 10.00am. I was staggered that it came to rest in the tree next to me. I struggled to take a shot of it because I didn't have my specs so couldn't see if it was in focus. I could see that I had got its breast in there, that was all. Imagine my surprise when I downloaded it to find that it was looking back at me. I didn't hear any jesses, I think it may have been calling and that is why I saw it in the first place. It may have been a single note, but it is so long ago and my aural memory is not the same as my visual one, I couldn't swear to it."

"Up and down the valley... stopping on a dry stone wall..." sounds Sprawk to me? (Albeit an odd one)
But what do I know... nottalot!
 
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Oh no -- lured again into the crazy maelstrom of hawthorn berry world...

The surrounding leaves and berries fix this with certainty as a small raptor, somewhere around sparrowhawk size.

Had it not been for apparent lack of barring on underparts, I'd have immediately thought "male sparrowhawk". It really doesn't get close to any other UK raptor species.

Given that there seem to be yellow feet just visible, the grey twig-like object I first thought could be a leg probably is, surprise, a grey twig (covered in lichen?). Doesn't look like a flexible jess to me but guess it's possible.

But there's puzzling stuff. The apparent notch just behind the bill tip shouldn't be there if it's an accipiter but looks kind of OK for a falcon. Perhaps it's damage? The yellow iris shouldn't be there if it's a falcon but looks fine for an accipiter. Why no distinct cere visible? No clear nostril either, although there are some dark blurry bits in the image. Digital artefact? A leaf shaking in the breeze when the image was captured?

The eye looks to be at a slightly more acute angle to the beak than expected in sparrowhawk, hence somewhat "owl-like", but don't know how significant this is. Believe birds can move the eyeball slightly inside the orbit (is that right?), so perhaps it's concentrating hard on potential dinner.

I think the least UNlikely conclusion is that this is a male sparrowhawk with non-typical ventral colouring. In his book on the Sparrowhawk, Ian Newton notes how the ground colour of the underparts can vary to some extent and the shape of darker markings on these feathers. Perhaps there's some typical barring on the upper breast only in which case it could be hidden behind the central branch and foliage?

PS But why, in Jane's enlargement, does it look like its wearing a lace bonnet around its head?
 
Aside from being in Lancashire...

Granted STE would be weird in Lancs, but given the lack of obvious ID for this bird, all sorts of exotic escapes are being considered aren't they?

...a short-toed Eagle wouldn't be able to sit in a Hawthorn bush, it would be obliged to be on top.

Depends on the hawthorn bush - or even tree - n'est pas?

Leaves and berries are really quite consistently sized compared to known birds

Undoubtedly. But parallax is the issue here, i.e. what are the relative distances between the observer the berries and the bird.
 
This is one of the features which suggests snake eagle to me.

I know some of you believe the apparent size excludes such a big bird - as I've said, I think this might be deceptive - but what do those of you in the sprawk camp make of this? I've never seen a big shaggy barnet like that on a sprawk.
 

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The fact that the bird is partly covering some leaves and fruits means it is in front of them with respect to the camera and this surely determines the small size. Not too fussed about the back of the head: could have been soaking wet, could have been wind. Unless someone can suggest an exotic with matching features and the appropriate size, I still think a sparrowhawk with non-typical plumage on belly is the least un-likely candidate.
(sorry; crossed with Jane. PPS still nobody's explained the lace ribbon down the side of its head...)
 
You're probably right. I was just being facetious. They always told me not to be. Just thought it was an amusing concept!
 
I am sure there is some good artist's on here who could sketch this bird without leaves and branches and it just might help a little . just a thought cheers col
 
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