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Raptor ID/Merlin? - Fort DeSoto, FL Today (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter serena933
- Start date
dominic.patagonia
Well-known member
agree with Randy
stevethehydra
Well-known member
I could well be wrong, but I'm getting more of a small accipiter (Sharp-shinned?) than a Merlin vibe from this pic. Long tail, head looks narrow/pointed rather than rounded like a falcon. Wings do look pointed but I have seen Sparrowhawks looking similar...
Don't agree to Accipiter, but also find it not very Merlin like.
Could it be an American Kestrel?
Peter
dominic.patagonia
Well-known member
AMKE would show some color difference between body and underwing, i think?
lou salomon
the birdonist
if it was in canada i'd have said "small looking gyr falcon" with that body bulk and at the same time longish tail. can't be an accipiter - wings are that of a falcon.
Simon Wates
Well-known member
I can see a Peregrine.
IMO the tail is too long, and in Peregrine it very rarely appears narrower at base than towards the tip, except when fanned out in soaring or banking.
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures/birds_user_uploads/39964_UU_29944_DSC_2637-veb.jpg
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures/birds_user_uploads/65340_UU_59971_Vandrefalk_2016_2nef_A4.jpg
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures/birds_user_uploads/62666_UU_57050_150915_007_filtered.jpg
Here's a shot where the tail is spread slightly and thus resembles the OP, but I still perceive it as distinctly shorter (the tail of bird in the OP actually seems as long as the rest of the bird):
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures/birds_user_uploads/34057_UU_22935_Vandrefalk_30.jpg
However, Peregrine was my intuitive reaction at first glance
Perhaps one of these blurred pictures invented to have everyone throw expired pennies in the hat?
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures/birds_user_uploads/39964_UU_29944_DSC_2637-veb.jpg
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures/birds_user_uploads/65340_UU_59971_Vandrefalk_2016_2nef_A4.jpg
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures/birds_user_uploads/62666_UU_57050_150915_007_filtered.jpg
Here's a shot where the tail is spread slightly and thus resembles the OP, but I still perceive it as distinctly shorter (the tail of bird in the OP actually seems as long as the rest of the bird):
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures/birds_user_uploads/34057_UU_22935_Vandrefalk_30.jpg
However, Peregrine was my intuitive reaction at first glance
Perhaps one of these blurred pictures invented to have everyone throw expired pennies in the hat?
Last edited:
Simon Wates
Well-known member
Peter - the second photo you linked to is extraordinary! My guess was entirely "intuitive reaction at first glance" - no (very welcome) effort like yours No problem throwing expired pennies in the hat for a bit of fun.
No problem throwing expired pennies in the hat for a bit of fun.
Hi all,
As with Peter, my gut reaction, on seeing the apparent head contrast, was Peregrine, but it soon became apparent that quite a few things were wrong for that species: pretty much everything he wrote about tail length compared to the total body length, narrow tail base and so on, also the apparent dark subterminal band seems perhaps a bit too broad for Peregrine also?
The head does seem a bit too dark for a Merlin, but I have seen birds (aesalon/subaesalon in Ireland, not seen enough columbarius often enough to have the same level of experience with them) which, when seen in certain lights/at certain angles, have appeared, however momentarily, to be 'hooded'. In particular, I recall a female type (most likely a juvenile, but it flew through low and quickly) at Clonea, Co. Waterford in January 2012 that, after flying low over the beach, then banked a bit as if flying out to sea and, for a moment, had we not seen it at close range first and had it not been January, the bird could have given a misleading impression of being a Eurasian Hobby, such was the apparent head pattern! Now, I am not saying the bird in the image has to be a Merlin, the image is very poor and grainy and fine detail would be extremely compromised, but it certainly seems possible that it was. The structure would seem to fit, anyway.
Regards,
Harry
As with Peter, my gut reaction, on seeing the apparent head contrast, was Peregrine, but it soon became apparent that quite a few things were wrong for that species: pretty much everything he wrote about tail length compared to the total body length, narrow tail base and so on, also the apparent dark subterminal band seems perhaps a bit too broad for Peregrine also?
The head does seem a bit too dark for a Merlin, but I have seen birds (aesalon/subaesalon in Ireland, not seen enough columbarius often enough to have the same level of experience with them) which, when seen in certain lights/at certain angles, have appeared, however momentarily, to be 'hooded'. In particular, I recall a female type (most likely a juvenile, but it flew through low and quickly) at Clonea, Co. Waterford in January 2012 that, after flying low over the beach, then banked a bit as if flying out to sea and, for a moment, had we not seen it at close range first and had it not been January, the bird could have given a misleading impression of being a Eurasian Hobby, such was the apparent head pattern! Now, I am not saying the bird in the image has to be a Merlin, the image is very poor and grainy and fine detail would be extremely compromised, but it certainly seems possible that it was. The structure would seem to fit, anyway.
Regards,
Harry
