Bacon & Eggs, Falcons, Dragons and Waterbirds (1 Viewer)

I drove from Adelaide up to The Alice through the green desert and got some photos of a Peregrine Falcon's underwing threads and some waterbirds and a dragon fing.

All found on my blog at

http://topbirdsandeveryfing.typepad.com/top-birds-everyfing/

Ciao

Chrisoo

Nice blog @Seashore...the Pink-eared Duck is superb!

Hi again.

A couple of people have queried whether the photo I put on my blog was indeed a juvenile Peregrine Falcon or an Australian Hobby. Can you decide. I've included another photo of the same bird and a kestrel and a camel.

Regards

Chris

Hey Chris,
I think what you've got there is an Australian Hobby - I'd say a female.
The 'helmet' pattern just doesn't look distinct enough for me, even for a juvenile pf, and I'd expect a proportionally bigger head/ beak/ chest/ feet, and also more distinct vertical barring on the chest (for a juvenile pf; the adults are different again) and colouration to extend to fully cover the lower belly/ vent area, and a slightly straighter trailing edge to the wing.
When the Hobby's have wings/ tail spread like this they can be hard to tell from Peregrine's, especially as there is nothing in the images to gain a relative size reference from. In the field you'll pick up slightly different 'jizz' between the two...........and besides the local birds seem to be able to tell the difference, as their alarm calls will escalate from 'totally freaked out' |8.| with the Hobby; to holy f***** s***!!! :eek!: :eek!: :eek!: with the Peregrine.....

Chosun :gh:
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For long, long time.............. the earth - she cry....
now, the children - they cry too....
All terribly, terribly sad...