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Another raptor for ID!! (1 Viewer)

Sumit

Well-known member
Hi Folks!
The attached was shot by a friend at Bangalore, Southern India. Compared to a Black Kite and Short-toed eagle (all three in the sky together) this bird was smaller. The size estimate is 40-50cms.
Request views on the ID.
Cheers!
sumit
 

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Hi Sumit,

Well, it's obviously an accipiter I'd say. The combination of huge looking bill, plian looking headsides and extensively streaked underparts would seem to suggest juvenile Northern Goshawk, as does the evenly and extensively barred tail. I'm not sure that it looks structurally right for a Gos though (though the short first primary seems promising) but can't think of anything else which shows the same plumage charactersistics.

If juvenile Crested Goshawk ever shows such an underpart pattern that would need to be seriously considered but as far as I know it always shows obviously barred flanks with any streaking confined to the breast, much the same can be said for the other (smaller) Indian accipiters too

Spud
 
Gives me the impression of (Eurasian) Sparrowhawk size/shape, though obviously not that on plumage. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about Besra, Shikra, etc to comment.

Michael
 
Thanks Spud and Michael. My 1st thoughts were Jerdon's Baza ( Aviceda jerdoni) which is not only very endangered, but poorly recorded in the area. So I dismissed the idea and posted the image.
Sumit
 
Hi Sumit,

I've never seen Jerdon's Baza, though believe me I've tried! As far as I know that species doesn't share the well streaked underparts of this bird, has less prominent barring on the secondaries but more prominent barring on the primaries (with virtually solidly dark 'fingers'.

Have you ever seen a juvenile Besra with fully streaked underparts?

Spud
 
Hi all,

Looking at the head, throat, upper breast detail and trying to judge it's size, I would hazard a guess at imm. male Crested Goshawk.

Andy.
 
Thanks jonafly! Opinion seems to favour a Northern Goshawk or Crested Goshawk. Unfortunately, both of which plus the Besra and sparrowhawk would be very rare in the area the image came from. I have not seen the bird so the size estimate is the quality of the observation.
I think it is best to close on an unidentified accipiter.
Sumit
 
Hi Stringer,
Thanks! Shikra was considered but the bulk of opinion is against it.
I have received some more feedback from experts who have considerable experience in India and the consensus seems to point at a juvenile Crested Goshawk ~ as pointed out by Spud and Satrow.
Thanks a ton to all those who helped out.
Cheers!
Sumit
 
Hi Sumit,

Bear in mind that an immature bird would look different to a juvenile. I think the Americans have a better way of describing age/seasonal differences.

Andy.
 
Hello folks

the short, broad wings and apparent (relative) smallish size are reminiscent of Crested Gos comp. to N.gos but I have very limited field experience of former - a few birds only. It would be interesting to know the location of the pic
 
Hi Tim,
This was shot 40-50 kms away from Bangalore city which is in the southern part of India. Hope that helps.
Andy, I have 3 votes for juv. and one for imm., and for me, the juv. and imm. bit is horrendously complicated, I have to admit.
Sumit
 
Accipiters do not have well defined immature plumages. Once the juvenile plumage has been replaced during a complete moult in the latter part of the first year of life they are essentially adult-like and retain, at most, a couple of juvenile flight feathers and show a slight tendency towards less conspicuous adult plumage on the head and upperparts. Such birds are sometimes referred to as being in '1st adult' plumage.

As the bird in question has very fresh flight feathers of only one generation and does not show any adult type underpart patterning it must be a juv. This applies regardless of species.

References to immatures when dealing with accipiters only serves to complicate what is basically a pretty straightforward pattern of plumage development.

Spud
 
Definately a immature female Northern Goshawk, check Flight Identification of European Raptors (plate 74 Goshawk, lower plate.).

nirofo.
 
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Michael,

There are several records of Northern Goshawk in S. India, south to Kerala. Whether these are wintering birds originating in Siberia or from Himalayan populations is uncertain; Siberian birds are much more migratory than, for example, European breeders and seem the most likely source.

However, if the bird in the image is a Crested Goshawk (structurally it certainly looks like one and there is some barring visible on the flanks) I wonder how many of the S. Indian Northern Goshawk records might have been mistakenly identified on the basis of extensive underpart streaking, something which isn't fully documented for Crested Gos. It would be interesting to know whether N. Gos has ever been collected in S. India or whether all records are sight records.

Satrow,

As far as I'm aware moult and plumage development in Crested Gos. is the same as that in all the other accipiters, i.e. only two plumages exist: juvenile and adult, with adult plumage attained with the complete replacement of juvenile feathers at an age of about 8+ months. The only exception to this rule that i know of concerns Northern gos which, as I mentioned above, sometimes retains a couple of juvenile flight feathers (always secondaries?)after the first complete moult and can thus be confidently aged as '1st adult' or somesuch. It is not surprising perhaps that this large accipiter sometimes shows a plumage development more in keeping with some larger raptors. I wasn't aware that Americans had developed an ageing system for raptors using the term 'immature' and would be interested to know more details of how this works. In Europe the standard system is to refer to plumage generations present for larger species (aquila sp etc) and calendar year terminology is used for species with more consistent patterns of development (falcons and harriers, for example).

Spud
 
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