Falcon, Oman (1 Viewer)

opisska · Jan 24, 2020

Sorry one more from the "birds my wife won't stop obsessing about" bucket. I say it's a Hobby, she finds her reasons to call it an Amur Falcon (which I suppose are mostly rooted in her wish to tick an Amur Falcon). What do you think?

Nutcracker · Jan 24, 2020

The feet as well as the vent feathers are red, so it's not a Hobby. I don't know enough to tell between Red-footed and Amur, but I'm fairly sure it's one of those two.

opisska · Jan 25, 2020

Nutcracker said:
The feet as well as the vent feathers are red, so it's not a Hobby. I don't know enough to tell between Red-footed and Amur, but I'm fairly sure it's one of those two.

Wait, I am confused now. I thought hobby does have a red vent, it's a rather prominent feature of it. Or am I kust confused by English names for body parts?

Red-footed does not occur in Oman, so that's rather easy (unless we allow for a first).

tconzemi · Jan 25, 2020

there are quite a few colour artefacts here (it is difficult to assess the lesser coverts of underwing) but the boldly barred flanks well visible in pic one are only present in female Amur Falcon and not in Hobby or Red-footed

Joern Lehmhus · Jan 25, 2020

opisska said:
Wait, I am confused now. I thought hobby does have a red vent, it's a rather prominent feature of it. Or am I confused by English names for body parts?.

Hobby would be red vent feathers but yellow feet.
the feet here look even more reddish than vent feathers which would only fit to the two red-footed species .

compare:

https://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/u8/images/bird-month/hobby/Hobby-David-Kjaer-001.jpg

also flank and general underside pattern looks much better for Amur falcon to me.

Andy Adcock · Jan 25, 2020

Looks like more than one bird here but missing feathers shows it's the same.

Barring is clearly visible on 3 but the bird appears completely brownish underneath in the last shot.

Andy Adcock · Jan 25, 2020

opisska said:
Wait, I am confused now. I thought hobby does have a red vent, it's a rather prominent feature of it. Or am I kust confused by English names for body parts?

Red-footed does not occur in Oman, so that's rather easy (unless we allow for a first).

AFAIK, the vent is a fairly small area where the tail joins the body. This birds shows red, extending further up than the vent proper, think about the white feathers under the tail of a Peregrine.

This drawing (2nd image) shows it well, the small buffy chevron behind the feet, beyond the feet is not the ventral area.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/hobby/

andyb39 · Jan 25, 2020

It looks like there's just one individual involved here as you can see the same gap in the bird's right wing in each image. I think this means that the gingery underpart coloration present in all the images to varying degrees is probably just a light effect.

Jan, when and where did you see it? I'm pretty sure it's an Amur.

opisska · Jan 27, 2020

andyb39 said:
It looks like there's just one individual involved here as you can see the same gap in the bird's right wing in each image. I think this means that the gingery underpart coloration present in all the images to varying degrees is probably just a light effect.

Jan, when and where did you see it? I'm pretty sure it's an Amur.

This is above Mirbat, at a lookout just above the ascent, on the road to Tawi Attair, around New Year.

Tote · Jan 27, 2020

I think it's a 1w male Amur Falcon, still with streaked breast.

Falcon, Oman (1 Viewer)

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