Hobby or Redfooted falcon in Belgium (1 Viewer)

[erwin]

Hi all,

This young falcon was sitting in the middle of a large plain (wet grassland) and looked and behaved a bit strange for a hobby to me.
Most of the time it was sitting on it's perch looking around with up and down head movements like and owl, also often looking straight behing him. It then flew up short distances and caught probably dragonflies in a flycatcher like manner.
I also saw it make some longer flights of a few hundred meters, fairly low over the grass, hovering like a kestrel for a few seconds during one of those flights.
Late in the evening it also stole a mouse from one of the nearby kestrel family, and started eating it in flight, but then perched to finish the meal.
It never flew with the speed and aggression I'm used seeing in hobby's, and it also looked to light in color for a hobby for me (of which I saw a fledgling fed by it's parents just last week)

What doesn't show well in the pictures is that it had a bright yellow beak and bright orange feet.

Well it could be the fledgling I saw last week (in a more wooded area 5km away) starting it's life on its own, but the light head and the barred tail look more like redfooted features to me.

When I got home I checked the local sighting reports and it was seen by others and reported as a juvenile hobby
http://www.overmeersevogels.be/waarnemingen.htm

with picture see
http://www.pbase.com/neos_marc/image/85243556

I would appreciate a confirmation either way

Thanks,

Erwin

 

[Robin Pearson]

Juvenile RFF for me.

 

[Wilts_Birder]

that's a very nice Red-Foot in your picture.

The day-glo boots really give the game away (if you saw them). Also, Hobbies tend to do longer sorties catching dragonflies - Red-foots are lazier and seem to go from the ground or from posts.

 

[erwin]

Thanks for the quick reply

Redfooted falcon is a lifer for me, so I'm quite happy that you guys confirmed my ID in the field. I was a bit disappointed and starting to doubt my ID skills when I found it already seen by others, and listed as a hobby.

So thanks again,

Erwin

 

[Th_SQ]

+1 for Red-footed.

Yellow cere (among many other details) !

 

[Ghostly Vision]

Hi Erwin,

The easy way to clinch this bird is that RFF has a strongly barred upper tail, which Hobby completely lacks in any plumage. This feature can clearly be seen on your photos and means other features and behaviour become secondary to the identification.

Good find!

Sean

 

[SteveClifton]

Just goes to show, never take at face value anything that other birders tell you! even 'experts' are wrong sometimes.

 

[erwin]

thanks everyone,

It is now accepted as RFF by all concerned, and the sightings website is updated
http://www.overmeersevogels.be/waarnemingen.htm

Links to more good pics from Marc Neos below the big letters

Regards

Erwin

 

[citreola]

Hi Erwin,

The easy way to clinch this bird is that RFF has a strongly barred upper tail, which Hobby completely lacks in any plumage. This feature can clearly be seen on your photos and means other features and behaviour become secondary to the identification.

Good find!

Sean

On 25.9.2005, I photographed a Hobby with a barred upper tail.

 

[citreola]

On 25.9.2005, I photographed a Hobby with a barred upper tail.

Another photo of the same bird.

 

[CAU]

On 25.9.2005, I photographed a Hobby with a barred upper tail.

I think that the key word in Ghostly Vision's "RFF has a strongly barred upper tail, which Hobby completely lacks in any plumage" is "strongly", since a Hobby also has a barred upper tail. However, the central two retrices of a Hobby are not barred (which can be seen from your photos), while those of an RFF are. Erwin's bird is of course a typical RFF, even though the central retrices aren't visible. Edit: Actually they probably are in the fourth picture.

I think that the key features in Erwin's pics are:
-the yellowish brown colour of the upper head
-a shorter "moustache" than a Hobby would have
-an orange base to the bill
-pure white cheeks and chin (on a Hobby they are buffish)
-thin streaks on the underside (a Hobby is more boldly patterned)
-strong barring on tail feathers
-barred greater coverts (they are never barred on a Hobby)

 

[JANJ]

Just some images of RFF from Finland because they are also very instructive and nice as Erwins here.

5 pages:

http://www.tarsiger.com/gallery/ind...country=&place=&order=lisays_paiva+DESC&sel=2

2 pages:

http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures.php?id=listpictures&species_id=213

JanJ

 

[erwin]

Thanks, very informative.

BTW the first things that stroke me as odd, without ever having seen a RFF before and withouth a recent check of the details in birdguides were seen in flight, with a binocular from some distance.
The impression it made was: "too light, too much brown patches on top". Those first impressions, toghether with it's behaviour and jizz made the difference from "just another Hobby" tick to "something to check out"

Erwin

 

[FalconBirder]

I agree that the bird depicted in Erwin's photographs is a juvenile Red-footed Falcon.

However, please take a look at photographic evidence in Image 2 (below) which appears to directly conflict with the statements by certain previous contributors to this thread asserting that all juvenile Hobbies have unbarred central tail (or 'deck') feathers.

Image 1 is simply for comparison to show what is the more typical juvenile plumage of unbarred deck feathers. But the juvenile Hobby in Image 2 (taken very recently in Surrey, England) appears to possess completely and consistently barred tail feathers, including the deck(s)!

I appreciate that the earlier postings were referring to the dorsal surfaces of the tail feathers. However, I trust readers can accept that the barring on the tail of the falcon in Image 2 is so distinct, with no diffentiation between the deck(s) and the rest of the tail, that it would certainly be clearly visible from above too.

FalconBirder

 

[CAU]

Thank you for the picture, FalconBirder! Even Forsman mentions the unbarred central tailfeathers as a diagnostic character for Hobby, but never say never, as they say...