Trip to Chad (1 Viewer)

Hello everyone,

Last January I spent two weeks in Chad, a country almost unknown as far as birding goes. Altough not strictly a birding trip, I saw and photographed a good number of birds and mammals. The report is online in my web: http://www.iyufera.com/htm/tr-chad-01.htm

From any African raptor experts, I would appreciate any help in IDing the birds in the attached thumnails; I'm not quite sure that the name under the photos is the correct one (is it Beaudoin's or Western Banded?)

Thanks and regards from Madrid,

I'm no expert but:
1. Western Banded Snake Eagle (much more Owl-headed than Beaudouin's & ?? hint of broad tail band)
2. Grasshopper Buzzard
3.juvenile African Hawk Eagle
????????????????

An excellent report Ignacio. I had always assumed Chad was an empty desert -the amount of big game you saw is a revelation.

I had initially thought image 3 above to be an immature Tawny Eagle (& it may be) but the head/ body proportions & wing/tail length recall African Hawk Eagle -immatures of which are pretty non-descript in plumage.

Steve G said:

An excellent report Ignacio. I had always assumed Chad was an empty desert -the amount of big game you saw is a revelation.

I had initially thought image 3 above to be an immature Tawny Eagle (& it may be) but the head/ body proportions & wing/tail length recall African Hawk Eagle -immatures of which are pretty non-descript in plumage.

Click to expand...

Thanks Steve,

Tawny Eagle was the commonest large raptor in the Zakouma area, together with Long-crested Eagle, so I naturally assumed that species. African Hawk-Eagle sounds like a good possibility though, right habitat and range.

As for the Circaetus, it's true that the head seems very wide and "owl-like", and also the wide tail band, but there's a hint of barring in the chest, which Western-banded lacks?

Thanks again,