Tawny eagle - Ethiopia November 2019 (1 Viewer)

Dear members and bird watchers!

Picture 1 and 2 are birds I have identified as Tawny Eagles.

Bird watching today and I passed a road kill and the area was full of kites, vultures and eagles. + of course Marabou Storks and Pied Crows

The question, if it is Tawny eagles, why so different colours?

Picture #3, I have no idea what kind of bird this is. Maybe someone here can be so kind to tell me.

Kind regards and happy birding
Aladdin

1- maybe Steppe
2- Tawny
3- Black Kite
Jean

Jean FRANCOIS said:

1- maybe Steppe
2- Tawny
3- Black Kite
Jean

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Thank you

There were a lot of kites. Some brown, light brown and als with grey head like picture #3.

And I also saw some Kite I never seen before, with a pink bill. I identified them as black or yellow billed kites. But with the pink bill and I am uncertain

There were so many kites and they all had different colours, all from blueish to yellow/ pinkish bills.

But picture #3 is the only one I noticed with the spots on the belly. Very hard to identify all the kites looking so different.

But I have put down all of them as black or yellow-billed.

Kind regards and happy birding
Aladdin

Jean FRANCOIS said:

1- maybe Steppe
2- Tawny
3- Black Kite
Jean

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agree, and Kite probably Yellow-billed with that yellow smudge on base of bill

tconzemi said:

agree, and Kite probably Yellow-billed with that yellow smudge on base of bill

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Thank you very much!

Now when I had have time to reflex I think the pink bill can be blood. They were eating from dead animal.

Quite fresh meat as we can see on the attached picture, so it is most likely blood on the bill.

And I will change Pic #1 in the original post to a Steppe, my reason for identify it as a Tawny is because of the face and mouth with the long gape like the bird is smiling. And the wing colour, but the breast is darker on the first picture.

Kind regards and happy birding
Aladdin

Dear members and birdwatchers!

Sorry to kick this thread alive again.

And first of all, thanks to everyone for all the help with the birds of prey.

Bird in picture #1 was identified as a Steppe be the helpful members here. I add a new picture #1 from the side so we can see the gape. This is the same bird as picture #1 in the original post and taken at the same time

Picture #2 (poor picture) same bird and here it is kind of easy to see that it is a Steppe when I compare with other flight picture as I can see the white "BAND" along the wings. And maybe due to this I think it is easy to see the gape dead centre of the eye.

Steppe: The gape of the Steppe Eagle extends BEYOND the centre of the eye Something I learned a few minutes ago when I try to learn to see the difference between the Tawny and the Steppe.

Tawny: Gape NEVER extend behind the mid of the eye
Picture #3 and this bird was identified as a Tawny by me. Now having a look and I think it is a Steppe based on the length of the gape.

Anyone that can be so kind to advise if I should change the identity to Steppe?

Any one that want to change the identity, I would really appreciate it if you could tell me how you identified the bird if it is not for the length of the gape.

Jean FRANCOIS and tconzemi helped me to confirm my identity on the bird in picture #4 and #5. do you mind me asking how you identified the bird as a Tawny? Now when I learned the "GAPE" trick I look at all my pictures and I am very confused as it is very hard to see and estimate where the gape come to an end.

Picture #5, the gape is clearly behind the centre, but I would like to say it is because the bird look straight ahead. If the bird look like normal the gape would stop at the middle of the eye.

Any better way to see the difference between the birds? How are you doing in the field?

The length of the gape, for me the same as the Great and Lesser Cucoal, can not see until I see the eyes in the pictures coming back home. And as we can see on my pictures with shadows etc. seems to be hard to see the centre of the eye

Forgot, all birds are taken at the same place and time

Happy Christmas and New Year
Aladdin

Beautiful shots!

Cyclops said:

Beautiful shots!

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Cheers!

Not really original, I have edit the pictures (Just a very wee notch) to try to emphasise the gape

Merry Christmas
Aladdin

Note that the bird eating carrion on your post #5 (11th Nov, 18:08) is a Hooded Vulture, not a Kite. Nice photos.

RafaelMatias said:

Note that the bird eating carrion on your post #5 (11th Nov, 18:08) is a Hooded Vulture, not a Kite. Nice photos.

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Cheers

Yes, I know, but just put it there to, how do you say, illustrate what kind of area it was. There were many vultures and during my time in Ethiopia I got to see all the vultures that is on offer.

Someone had thrown offal and there were so much bird to eat. Video HERE

By the way, excuse me for asking. Do you know much about the Hooded Vulture. I have searching high and low about all the different face colours. And I found that it was red faced when the bird was agitated.

I have pictures or red faced preening and they really don´t look agitated. Black and white face etc. Do you know the difference in the face colours?

Kind regards and happy birding
Aladdin

Beautiful shots:t:

I remember seeing several thousand Yellow-billed Kites with several hundred Tawnies around Nairobi abattoir (open air:eek! many, many, years ago and the range of plumage tones in both species particularly in the changing light conditions made for challenging ID to say the least.....

Laurie -

All eagles in that thread are Steppe. And actually bird 1 and 2 in post#1 are one and the same individual.

rollingthunder said:

Beautiful shots:t:

I remember seeing several thousand Yellow-billed Kites with several hundred Tawnies around Nairobi abattoir (open air:eek! many, many, years ago and the range of plumage tones in both species particularly in the changing light conditions made for challenging ID to say the least.....

Laurie -

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Cheers!

Yes, I am very confused. And the birds are very different looking in the shadow or in sun light. And many details are disappearing that could be of help identifying the birds.

As itconzemi pointed out for me in the thread: https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=384683

Tawny is a very variable bird and I found this very interesting, I knew what it meant but not really in another way. I looked for definitions and I really never found any. But I think it meant that this bird can look very different without being a subspecies.

This was new information for me and I learned something new that day.

Kind regards and happy birding
Aladdin

Tib78 said:

All eagles in that thread are Steppe. And actually bird 1 and 2 in post#1 are one and the same individual.

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Cheers!

Do you mind elaborate on how you identified it as Steppe? There was a lot of Tawny in the area, or as it now might turn out, Steppe Eagles.

Post#1? The pictures were taken a bit appart. But I am certain to 99% that picture #1 and #2 in post #6 is the same bird. Was a few on the ground looking at the vultures feeding. The birds took off and I got the (POOR) flight picture. Cropped picture and in my original I could see the top of the wing from one of the other Steppe eagles. And again, I sure it was the same bird I got on picture #2 when it took off

Kind Regards and happy birding
Aladdin

I believe you need the perfect picture at the perfect angle to separate the two eagles using the gape

Niels

njlarsen said:

I believe you need the perfect picture at the perfect angle to separate the two eagles using the gape

Niels

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Cheers Niels

Yes, especially for me. I need good pictures of all the pictures to be able to identify them from a book. And many birds are like our friends, Steppe and Tawny, very alike

I know my birds in Thailand and I cna identify them even when they are just passing by (Some of them) but otherwise I need a picture.

In Ethiopia I spotted 260 different birds but then I had a Guide with me.

SO I have an impressive eBird list. But the birds I never got a good view of was not put on the list even though my Guide identifies them.

By the way, I had identified the eagles as Tawny and after consulting www.birdforum.net and the help made me change the observation to Steppe in my checklist from Bishoftu, Ethiopia

Might be of interest for someone here, I changed the Tawny and I could not find Steppe and I had to add it. Then there was a warning that Steppe had not been observed in the area and I had to make a remark.

I referred to birdforum, so thanks for all the help

Kind regards and happy birding
Aladdin

Aladdin said:

Cheers!

Do you mind elaborate on how you identified it as Steppe? There was a lot of Tawny in the area, or as it now might turn out, Steppe Eagles.

Post#1? The pictures were taken a bit appart. But I am certain to 99% that picture #1 and #2 in post #6 is the same bird. Was a few on the ground looking at the vultures feeding. The birds took off and I got the (POOR) flight picture. Cropped picture and in my original I could see the top of the wing from one of the other Steppe eagles. And again, I sure it was the same bird I got on picture #2 when it took off

Kind Regards and happy birding
Aladdin

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It’s a combination of structural and plumage features. It would take me
too long to describe every feature and its implication for every bird presented here but here is a sum up: long gape, short legs, small and well defined white tips to body feathers and some coverts, large pale tips to freshly replaced coverts, one bird shows typical Steppe tertials pattern (coarse black bars on a grey background).

And sorry to insist but bird 1 and 2 in post #1 are definitely one and the same. Check the number of moulted coverts and some details of wear/abrasion to the old coverts. It’s actually quite obvious.

Tib78 said:

It’s a combination of structural and plumage features. It would take me
too long to describe every feature and its implication for every bird presented here but here is a sum up: long gape, short legs, small and well defined white tips to body feathers and some coverts, large pale tips to freshly replaced coverts, one bird shows typical Steppe tertials pattern (coarse black bars on a grey background).

And sorry to insist but bird 1 and 2 in post #1 are definitely one and the same. Check the number of moulted coverts and some details of wear/abrasion to the old coverts. It’s actually quite obvious.

Click to expand...

Thank you Tib78!

You don´t need to be sorry for anything. Bird #1 and #2 in post #1 might be the same bird, I have no idea. I just meant that the pictures were taken maybe 50 meters apart.

I don´t know how many of the different birds there was and I put down just a few. I could not count them. If you have seen the video above there was a lot and I have a hard time to count.

I always put less because it might have been the same bird counted more than once. #1 and #2 in post #1 is then most likely the same as the flying bird in post #6

Thank you for your identity tips. I am still learning and when I have learnt something I am very happy, just to go back to confusion when I learn something. But I hope to learn more and it is fun to discover all the new things.

Thank you for the help

Kind regards and happy birding
Aladdin