Samaria Gorge (1 Viewer)

J

jaguar231

Member

• May 24, 2015

• #1

Can anyone help? Walking through the gorge of samaria on southern crete I spotted an obvious raptor circling above (not too high). A similar size to a buzzard but appeared entirely black as a raven. Wings probably a bit shorter than a buzzard but much broader. It did sweep its wings back into a marked W shape for a brief swoop (like a falcon might). My first thought was a black vulture but apparently these are pretty rare so not likely. I have no other ideas and cant find anything similar in a species list for the gorge.
I also spotted what I thought were crag martins but could have been rock martins. Definitely one or the other but neither are listed in the species list for the gorge!

 

delia todd

If I said the wrong thing it was a Senior Moment

Staff member

Opus Editor

Supporter

• May 24, 2015

• #2

Hi jaguar and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

I've moved your post to the ID forum, as i think you're more likely to get the help you need there; and I've subscribed you to the thread so that you can keep track of it.

All things Scottish can be found here. Also, keep an eye on threads titled something like Scottish Bashes; we usually have one or two meets each year and they're all great fun. We had one recently and you can read all about it in this thread. You'd be most welcome to join us on another if you can manage.

 

A

AllanM

Well-known member

• May 24, 2015

• #3

Are you certain it wasn't a raven? They can do pretty good impersonation of a raptor, similar in size to a buzzard and do swoop like this.

 

Mal92

Well-known member

• May 24, 2015

• #4

Hi
I had several Crag Martins in the Gorge back in 2006. Think Raven might be a good bet.

 

J

jaguar231

Member

• May 25, 2015

• #5

Thanks for the replies.

Raven is a possibility I suppose but I often see ravens where I live so I'm used to them. For that reason the bird just didn't fit. The tail feathers were definitely not of a raven - square not wedge shaped. Wings too broad head and bill not big enough and the wing tip 'fingers' were much more pronounced. Lastly ravens are generally vocal this was quiet fellow.

Maybe it will just have to go down as a bbj!

Thanks for the Martin confirmation.

 

Laruslister

Well-known member

• May 25, 2015

• #6

That sounds like a chough which shows obvious fingers and small bill.Alpine and Red-billed are both very common there.Maybe you got the size wrong-that is easily done even by experienced birders.As for Crag Martins,they are as Mal92 says very common in the gorge particularly on migration

 

J

jaguar231

Member

• May 27, 2015

• #7

That's a very good suggestion Laruslister and tbh not one I'd thought of. I completely agree perspective can be very tricky and even though I am lucky enough to see goldies and buzzards where I live at a distance I still can't tell them apart. This bird though was relatively close so size wasn't really an issue and although I'm not very familiar with the silhouette of the Chough there was no obvious bill to be see through my bins. I'm reconciled I'm afraid to the old fishermens' tale of the one that got away!

 

stuartvine

Well-known member

• May 27, 2015

• #8

Look at some pics of dark morph Booted Eagles - they can be very dark...