Kent, large Bird of prey (1 Viewer)

(Copied from the Rare bird page)

At the risk of being shot down to pieces by all and sundry on here I thought I would recall the events of yesterday afternoon.

Location: SW of Sandwich, Kent.
Time: 15.20

Description directly taken from my notebook;

"Large BOP, bigger than Buzzard, longer broader wings, wings pinched in where trailing edge meets body.
Head obvious pretruding, almost pointy at tip when seen from side.
Tail often spread out and used for steering.
Behaviour interesting- turned (kestrel like) stopped in mid air, didnt hover but hung in the air, gliding, powerful flight eventually, obviously hunting.
No plumage seen due to poor light.
Rounded wings almost hony buzzard like.
The distinctive size shape and beahiour was striking, tail spreading and hanging in the air very odd."

I was watching it for about 5mins at medium range 500m(ish) but it drifted off quickly out of sight.
I called RBA to see if I could get some info, the person on the other end suggested Harris Hawk, due to tail spreading and wing shape, which I agreed with at the time as it seemed like a sensible option for the shape seen.
Having reflected on the comments with a birding friend I am thinking HH is unlikely, firstly size was wrong HH should be smaller than a Buzzard this was clearly larger and longer winged. Although I saw no plumage colours surely a white rump would have been obvious? However I can see why it was suggested due to the shape of the wings and the tail spreading. Do they hang in the air motionless too?

My first impressions of the bird was Short Toed Eagle and after looking at videos on the net, the behavior was indeed very similar and some showed the distinctive tail usage to stop in the air motionless, wing shape and general appearence.

I know this sounds a bit odd, especially at this time of the year, with these weather conditions and I admit I probably should have asked RBA to put the news out there and then, but it would have been (Large bird of prey sp) not exactly great news to get people out and looking.

I thought I would share this with others who perhaps have more recent experiences with Short toed eagle or Harris Hawk and wish to comment.

Thanks

Ben

Interesting. Can you be sure of the size, if a lone bird? Can you be sure it wasn't one of the other Buteo, perhaps a Rough-legged? Sure, the behaviour sounds similar to hunting STE, but the (typically) very pale underside is usually evident even in poor light, and the extended 'pointy' head doesn't ring true for STE. They tend to have a broad-headed appearance. And they should all be a couple of thousand miles south! Sorry. not much positive help.

In my experience Short toed are more likely to flap hover than Rough legged and I've watched the Rough legs on Sheppy in past years hanging for ages without a flap, so more likely Rough legged than STE, let alone the location. Rough legs in short supply this year though so not entirely sure a Common Buzzard just appearing big in the circumstances can be ruled out. Size is notoriously hard to jusge

Jan