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Bird of prey, Bulgaria (1 Viewer)

It proves that, while many Birdforum members are excellent to analyse the plumage, there is a weakness in bird silhouette identification in the forum. In the field, experienced birders would agree on at least harrier sp.

Either that or some people are as good as they think they are.

Everyone has a weakness when it comes to shots like this and some people seem reluctant or unable, to just say 'sorry, the picture isn't good enough'.

I've said so many times that the eagerness to comment on such shots, just encourages people to post worse and worse images, they ask for a miracle sometimes and they know it but still they post.


A
 
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The wings are broader, shorter and less pointed. Apart from that quite similar.

Try it again with the 1st picture from this post and then the middle picture from the other post I linked to. Open them side by side... By the way I don’t think you’ll get a positive ID from this bird but it shows, as others have said, that flight silhouette can be very deceptive.
 
Try it again with the 1st picture from this post and then the middle picture from the other post I linked to. Open them side by side... By the way I don’t think you’ll get a positive ID from this bird but it shows, as others have said, that flight silhouette can be very deceptive.

Yes, I've done that. The main reason I favour Osprey over HB is that I have never seen any Honey Buzzard, either in real life or on film, showing such pointed wing ends. The reason they are so is, I believe, that the hand of Osprey is narrower and gradually tapering towards the wing end, so when closed they show a more noticeable point.

By the way digitally enhancing the second photo and enlarging and rotating it, shows that there are 2-3 *curved*, slightly-separated primaries at the wing-tips, also rather characteristic of Osprey from other photos I saw in an image search yesterday.

Still, judgments differ.
 
Yes, I've done that. The main reason I favour Osprey over HB is that I have never seen any Honey Buzzard, either in real life or on film, showing such pointed wing ends. The reason they are so is, I believe, that the hand of Osprey is narrower and gradually tapering towards the wing end, so when closed they show a more noticeable point.

By the way digitally enhancing the second photo and enlarging and rotating it, shows that there are 2-3 *curved*, slightly-separated primaries at the wing-tips, also rather characteristic of Osprey from other photos I saw in an image search yesterday.

Still, judgments differ.

Among other things that makes OP bird totally different from Osprey, you can simply compare the tail length to width of wings at base. OP bird has a tail almost 2 times too long for Osprey (ratio of 1/1 instead or 1/2); this can be positively measured, not only judgment.
 
I posted a link to Montagu’s over the page (I dont see how this could be anything other than a harrier imo with those tail and wing proportions) in the raptor quizz (no.14) but those wings dont look as pointy when you enlarge the image so I could be persuaded on Marsh (which is no.17 on the link).

I’m sure most birders on here are pretty good on id-ing on the gizz of a distant raptor ‘blur’ in the field, probably better than I am, but the trouble with a still photo, movement and flight behaviour is missing and there is a tendancy to over analysing a frozen fragment of movement that can produce a distortion of the true general impression of size and structure.

There is also the consideration of primary moult, P7s? when image is enlarged, which could support a female Marsh
 
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