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Recent content by Kinthissa

  1. K

    Fat raptor, Lunigiana Italy

    Hi everyone, good to drop in, great to see familiar names still sharing their expertise. After some years of worrying that there were no longer HoneyBuzzards nesting in this valley due to too many trees having been felled, this year there is the reassurance of routine visits to the garden...
  2. K

    HB this early? Lunigiana, Italy

    Hello Tom, happy spring wishes to you. The tail spread as the bird veered away, I saw no details of markings except the rounded corners of an HB-like tail. It was unaggressive as HBs generally are. Characteristic outline and flight as it headed into the eastern hills, quite low. I think...
  3. K

    HB this early? Lunigiana, Italy

    5th April, ca 1300 A shadow passed over me, I looked up and there was a slim HB being heckled by a Hooded crow. But this is at least a month too early, isn't it? Is there news of HB movements anywhere up north? (STE circling over valley 2nd April; I saw 3 early March)
  4. K

    Bluey Birds, Marettimo Sicily

    "codirosso spazzacamino" ... thank you all for your responses. I love Redstarts. The Common RS nests in the walls of our house, we see them from May through to September, and when they are gone, the Black Redstart appears and is often about during winter, even roosts sometimes on the rafters of...
  5. K

    Bluey Birds, Marettimo Sicily

    In January 2017, I photographed a striking blueblack bird on Marettimo which was identified on the forum as Blue Rock Thrush. Here are some more bluey birds I've seen there on subsequent visits. I believe nos. 1 and 4 are Blue Rock Thrush, but am not sure of the birds in nos.2,3 & 5. 1)...
  6. K

    Raptors, Marettimo Sicily

    It's good to confirm that, Tom, thank you. I was hopeful at the time of sighting, but when I saw that dark nape in the photos ... there must be other obvious indications of differences between Peregrine, Saker and Lanner, which I have yet to recognize.
  7. K

    Raptors, Marettimo Sicily

    > Could the first bird be a Short toed Eagle moulting primaires? Hi Maëlle, thank you for your comment. Are you referring to the 5th photo in the first post, of bird(s) seen in February 2017? ... in which case, it does not look like an STE to me, but I have read that some STEs have been known...
  8. K

    Raptors, Marettimo Sicily

    Thank you Lou and Tom, this is exciting, glad to be on the trail again. A Harrier, and I've never seen a Pallid in my life. About the bird in the first post (CB or ?)), the persistently flat-winged flight put me off considering Common Buzzard, and the closed tail didn't give me any clue. One...
  9. K

    Raptors, Marettimo Sicily

    Thank you, Tom, and that's a funny start to my bird id year, I had a feeling the answer was going to be obvious! Curiously, I've hardly seen CBs on Marettimo. Good you are pointing out the last pic, it does look different (the tail's looking longer in relation to body and hands more tapered)...
  10. K

    Raptors, Marettimo Sicily

    Warm wishes to everyone for the new year starting with an "old" bird, seen 11 February 2017, one that I never figured out looks rather short-tailed in all the blurry pix, and very long wings in proportion Any chance of an id?
  11. K

    A falcon in amongst? Marettimo Sicily

    Thank you, Tom. I must learn to pay more attention to structure. The few Marsh Harriers I've seen have been the dark type (like no.1 below), and all three Marsh Harriers posted above are so different. Is it at all unusual to see three individuals of that kind of lighter less-marked plumage...
  12. K

    A falcon in amongst? Marettimo Sicily

    Thank you, Lou and Steve. I think this has been a wild goose chase but I am learning something. I am amazed the female Marsh Harrier can be so pale underneath. I have found my way to Tom's link mentioned by Henning in a current thread, re: the variability of Marsh Harrier plumage. May I...
  13. K

    A falcon? Marettimo Sicily

    Thank you, Aeshna. I should have recognized the proportions of a Kestrel though. I need more familiarity with all these birds, still too new to the scene.
  14. K

    A falcon in amongst? Marettimo Sicily

    On 30th April I struck lucky at my watchpoint, seeing several raptors come across around 4pm. First the ones I cannot identify! I am hoping for an exciting falcon, a Saker or a Lanner, having once seen a Saker on Marettimo in September 2017. But on those two kinds of falcons, the trailing...
  15. K

    A falcon? Marettimo Sicily

    Hi, thank you for putting me right. My original query said "Falcon or Kestrel?", I should have stuck to that! The hovering posture should have alerted me, I guess. But funnily enough, the few Kestrels I've seen here in Lunigiana I have never seen hover, unlike the ones in England.
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