AlinoVegano
Well-known member
then that's a long-tailed looking Common Buzzard.
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BOP seen this morning NE.London....? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter KenM
- Start date
then that's a long-tailed looking Common Buzzard.
KenM
Well-known member
At day end, it might just show the limitations of showing less than perfect images, albeit crudely proportionate to what was seen with the naked eye. So far it's been somewhat entertaining as to how these have been perceived by certain parties whose contribution to the forum table, is at best minimal, to non-existent. But then that's par for the course on this particular forum. It's a bit like forwarding a submission to ten men that "weren't there", in order to get a "rubber stamp of approval" whose value is questionable. However it's "meat on the table" at day end, something that you as an individual might be stretched to provide? As for crying wolf....do you want to compare in public your finds as compared to mine....I dare you...show me your gonads...assuming of course you have them?
Cheers
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Andrew Rowlands
Well-known member
You really ought to take up birdwatching.
KenM
Well-known member
Andrew Rowlands
Well-known member
Was your "birdwatching" in any way related to the birdwatching/birding that most of us here do, or is it a euphemism for something NSFW?
Simon Wates
Well-known member
I suspect I was "birdwatching" when you were in nappies....now I "birdhunt"
I was quite possibly birding when you weren't allowed to hold binocualars for fear of getting jammy fingers on them.
Now - I may be wrong Ken....but I can't help thinking that you get a little kick out of making some folk look bad at ID. I hope not.
I'll tell you this - you should have known if the bird was a CB or a HB when you were snapping away at it - you should have noticed plainly, the flexible almost Kite like flight of a HB and watched it at a couple of different angles - what I'm trying to say is; I would have known the ID very quickly in the field and so would many folk on this thread. I wouldn't have needed even to see diagnostic markings.
You have cherry-picked the photos that most look like a HB - now in the field these tiny moments exist - but the birders eye catches this and many other angles as well as movement and IF there was doubt on the ID a careful look at different angles would soon clinch it.
I personally have seen 10's of 1,000s of HBs (used to live on the Strait) and I still see a few 10s annually - now a photo or two of yours throws me just 'cos of the angle and the suggestion. Come on man!
rosbifs
PutAin STOP
I had quite clearly marked, with 2 red lines, where I believe the tails starts and end in post 20 - no one has disputed my 'lines'. Perhaps you could do the same with where you believe the tail starts.
The concensus from those I would consider to be the experts in this field have said definately CB (I do not consider myself close to them in this respect). Nobody has said or is saying you were wrong to hope otherwise!
PS I spend some days at migration watchpoints and see numerous raptors - 000's Kites and HB's. I still make numerous mistakes and each year it takes time to get my 'eye' in. It sounds silly but I never start the season from the same position I finish the previous - what I mean is after regular viewing id comes automatic but the following year I have to start again!
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markspirito
Well-known member
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Simon Wates
Well-known member
I'd noticed that earlier and thoroughly agree.
Simon Wates
Well-known member
Ken - sorry if I came on a bit strong on my last post but honestly its a bit irritating to keep looking at dots and smudges of Eur. Sparrowhawks and CBs trying to be Goshawks or HBs. Why don't you scope them and have a better look than through the camera. I'm sure it would save you taking most of these kind of shots.
lou salomon
the birdonist
coudn't express myself better than this. i also thought: for someone birding since ages, adult honey buzzards should be readily recognizable by their way to move plus all the other known features which give them a peculiar jizz.
KenM
Well-known member
FWIW Simon....The ID was "electrifyingly" instantaneous! My problem was the time lapse between seeing through the bins at perhaps 200+m. and getting my "sodding" camera to focus, (also having to negotiate awkwardly placed window frames and trees) by which time it had moved a further c150-200m away. It constitutes only the 3rd HB that I've seen, to describe the flight, I would say languidly light, almost feminine compared to yer average CB that not infrequently drift pass overhead, regarding attempting to mislead...nothing could be further from the truth...however if some individuals are "wrong-footed" en-route then so be it, that after all is the risk that one takes. I always endeavour to show all the best relevant shots...and you can't say that it hasn't been entertaining...or indeed educational? Personally I enjoy these challenges...that's what makes the world go round, you get some right, and you get some wrong, then you move on to the next. I treat the whole thing as a game anyway...and at all times unless severely pressed, try and keep my ego out of it, like everybody else on here.
rosbifs
PutAin STOP
It constitutes only the 3rd HB that I've seen
Except that it wasn't one...
Maybe some of those posting have a bit more experience of the species.
KenM
Well-known member
.....NSFW?
......Clearly we have a difference of opinion.
It's not the experience of the claimed species that's important....it's experience of the common "confusion" species that really matters....5 out of 10 (ex and current BBRC submissions accepted ), were species that I'd had no previous experience of whatsoever.
rosbifs
PutAin STOP
clearly not...
AlinoVegano
Well-known member
Well, Ken, if you are sure of your identification, why ask help? Your identification is wrong, but it seems you don't care. Will you "tick" your record according to the number of BF members you'll manage to convince your regular Common Buzzard is a Honey Buzzard? Or are you somehow interested by the genuine identification?
If yes, check the tip of the primaries, and see our bird cannot be a HB... that's over. Rest if lost of time.
If yes, check the tip of the primaries, and see our bird cannot be a HB... that's over. Rest if lost of time.
AlinoVegano
Well-known member
rosbifs
PutAin STOP
The three birds that Peter posted plus two of yours.
In all cases the length of the tail from the 'bottom' of the bird is half the length from the base of the wing to the end of the tail.
In all cases, the length from the base of the wing to the tail is longer than the width of the wings.
The proportions of your bird in both photos fits the pattern exactly...
In all cases the length of the tail from the 'bottom' of the bird is half the length from the base of the wing to the end of the tail.
In all cases, the length from the base of the wing to the tail is longer than the width of the wings.
The proportions of your bird in both photos fits the pattern exactly...
Attachments
Sangahyando
Well-known member
It's not just the length of the tail, it's also the outline of it. HB tends to show slightly convex sides to its tail, unlike CB (and unlike the bird in the OP). See Alino Vegano's picture.
