How do you tell a Goshawk from a Sparrowhawk if you only see the Silhoutte, Hiroshima Japan (2 Viewers)

[MorphCore]

Hey there,

it´s me again. I am on a birding spree these days and keep posting ID help in here. Sorry if I am being bothersome. Today right at the end, I already was about to leave my spot when this bird of prey flew over my head and this is the only decent enough picture I could take: see attached photo. So now I am curious to learn about how I can tell the difference between the two Accipiter species.

Thank you in advance for all kinds of responses

 

[tconzemi]

Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Northern Goshawk photo ID guide

Andy Stoddart provides expert advice on how to separate the well-known Eurasian Sparrowhawk from the much scarcer Northern Goshawk.

www.birdguides.com

 

[MorphCore]

Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Northern Goshawk photo ID guide

Andy Stoddart provides expert advice on how to separate the well-known Eurasian Sparrowhawk from the much scarcer Northern Goshawk.

www.birdguides.com

thank you!

 

[01101001]

Also look at this thread:

Two questions from Trondheim, Norway, Sept 15: Sprawk or Goshawk? and which 1C "Comic" tern?

Two birds I'm unsure of from yesterday's survey walk along the fjord shore. Sorry about photo quality. They were pretty distant and since I wasn't prepared to either fly or swim, I couldn't get closer. Also, to "shoot" the hawk, I had to tip my head waaaay back, so hard to stand entirely still...

www.birdforum.net

(And, in some cases, you can never know with just a silhouette available.)

 

[HouseCrow]

I think though in Hiroshima you should also reckon with the third Accipiter in Japan: Japanese Sparrowhawk.

I would think it is more a sparrowhawk spec than a Goshawk, but the photo is not very giving informationwise...

see this page for more info

Goshawk and Eurasian, Chinese & Japanese Sparrowhawks

IDENTIFICATION TIPS on NORTHERN GOSHAWK and EURASIAN, CHINESE & JAPANESE SPARROWHAWKS in JAPAN In 1998, Fer-Jan de Vries briefly reviewed a new book by Teruaki Morioka: Birds of Prey in Japan ,...

kantorilode.weebly.com

cheers,
Gerben

 

[MacNara]

Hi Gerben.

If you can't tell whether it's Goshawk or Eurasian Sparrowhawk from below, then thinking of Japanese Sparrowhawk is surely pointless unless the hand is spread and you can count the fingers clearly. Japanese Sparrowhawk is rare in Japan, despite the name and what the books may say. I have only seen it two or three times on migration in autumn, compared with thousands of views of Sparrowhawk and Goshawk which over-winter or breed where I am in Nara.

Why do you think that Hiroshima (not that far from Nara) might be some kind of a hotspot for Japanese Sparrowhawk as your comment seems to suggest?
:

I think though in Hiroshima you should also reckon with the third Accipiter in Japan: Japanese Sparrowhawk.

 

[HouseCrow]

I only meant to add the third regular but rarer Accipiter species in the mix.. OP being in Japan, that's all.


Cheers
Gerben

 

[MacNara]

I only meant to add the third regular but rarer Accipiter species in the mix.. OP being in Japan, that's all.

It's not regular at all.

 

[HouseCrow]

Am I a little touchy at the moment or is your tone maybe a bit argumentative?
I am not an English native speaker, so maybe i misinterpreted your messages.

Cheers
G

 

[MacNara]

Am I a little touchy at the moment or is your tone maybe a bit argumentative?
I am not an English native speaker, so maybe i misinterpreted your messages.

No, you didn't misinterpret my messages.

MorphCore is a recent member (three weeks ago or so) of Bird Forum and has apparently recently moved to Japan.

His/Her original question was perfectly sensible - how to tell a backlit Sparrowhawk from a backlit Goshawk. In my experience if one occurs, in Japan, then the other is possible in the same location. For example, three days ago in my city on my regular walk (a bit unusual in that there are fields and empty areas in the middle of a 450,000 population city) I saw (and photographed) Goshawk, female Sparrowhawk, and male and female Kestrel over a couple of minutes from the same spot in the middle of my walk.

Gerben - maybe I am misremembering, but my impression is that in your replies to questions on Japanese birds you regularly go for the rarest and least likely of the possibilities, which is what I think you are doing here.

I simply don't think that it was helpful to this new member, perhaps in a new country, to suggest a very unlikely species rather than trying to help with the original question. Your previous comment got a thumbs-up from 01101001, fdokykcu and Grahame Walbridge, and a later one from Butty, but I respectfully suggest that they don't know what they are talking about in this case.

Enjoy the photos from Japan a couple of days ago

 

[Bewick]

Why do you think that Hiroshima (not that far from Nara) might be some kind of a hotspot for Japanese Sparrowhawk as your comment seems to suggest?
:

'...though in Hiroshima...' no his comment did not suggest anything like that, you misinterpreted his comment.

 

[01101001]

I admit I don't actually know what I'm talking about. In this thread, I have to rely on the advice of others regarding birding in Japan. Nice photos.