Ageing Eleonora's Falcon (1 Viewer)

Hi all,

I'm having troubles ageing this Eleonora's Falcon. Hypothesis are a 2CY juvenile bird or a 3CY bird (friend saying the flight feathers have moulted at least once and the tail feathers would be very worn on a 2CY).

Photo taken on June 16th in France.

Thanks in advance,

David

No personal experience, but I recall that in Eleonora's the distinctly barred primaries and secondaries of the juvenile are replaced by darker and more evenly toned (unbarred) feathers after the first moult. Think the broad dark trailing edge band is also a juvenile feature. So I'm guessing this is a 2cy bird. It may have changed some body feathers by June and would be expected to start moulting flight feathers pretty soon. I can't see any obviously adult remiges (but I've only got a cheap old monitor). On the other hand I don't know why there is so little sign of fading or wear if those are all retained juvenile flight feathers! Perhaps one of the regular experts (ie. not me!) will offer a definitive response.
Brian

I'm not expert at all but recall having used this paper which treated in some detail 2cy individuals

https://birdingfrontiers.wordpress.com/2012/09/07/eleonoras-falcon-easy-or-difficult/

any pictures from the upperside available?

No sorry, that's the only photo of this particular bird I can show you for sure

after some more reading I agree it must be a 2nc cy