Accipter ID Urumqi China (1 Viewer)

[ryckfour]

Any ideas on this one - Mackinnon not much help.

Accipter (male sparrowhawk size but looked bulkier) in city centre park in Urumqi, Xinjiang. Compared to sparrowhawk in UK seemed very pale both above and below. Seen on 14th April (lot of passage birds around this week). Seen with naked eye only and only briefly - was it just a sparrowhawk?

 

[rockfowl]

Hi Ryckfour,

Mackinnon not much help! It may have been a Chinese Sparrowhawk, they appear very pale though generally appear a bit smaller..

See this link and scroll through - http://orientalbirdimages.org/searc...result&Bird_ID=895&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1

otherwise I guess your confined to either Japanese, which is rather similar to Eurasian - http://orientalbirdimages.org/birdi...cies&Bird_ID=905&Bird_Family_ID=96&pagesize=1

Eurasian appears similar to ours - http://orientalbirdimages.org/birdi...cies&Bird_ID=898&Bird_Family_ID=96&pagesize=1

Mark

 

[ryckfour]

A little more detail

Thanks Mark

Original post was done in a bit of a rush using the internet access at a hostel and without my notes. Here is a little bit of clarification.

Bird seen at about 20-25 ft distance with naked eye darting through park trees. Size recorded as similar to male Eurasian Sparrowhawk but gave impression of being bulkier around the breast. Underside was barred in a sandy or pale rust colour on a paler background and upperside was pale grey. Undertail barring very faint and underwing with no strong barring.

Mackinnon not a great help since distibution maps show no small/medium Accipters in Urumqi area (NW China) - Eurasian Sparrowhawk is shown as summer visitor a bit further north and west so passage a possibility but illustration of race nisosimilis shows a bird which, if anything, is more boldly marked than the sparrowhawks I see at home!!

Only other options seems to be Shikra which is shown as occurring in neighbouring Central Asian states but not in Xinjiang.

Any thoughts

Deryck

 

[rockfowl]

Hi Deryck,

I wouldn't rely too heavily on the distribution maps as there are many errors, however, being so far East, with relative little information I'm not surprised. Paul Holt I see from the 2006 China Bird Report recorded one in Xinjiang, so Shikra does occur and evidently fits better - http://orientalbirdimages.org/birdi...cies&Bird_ID=852&Bird_Family_ID=96&pagesize=1

Mark

If your happy with Shikra, would be worth submitting the record to aid future distribution maps! - http://www.cnbirder.com/index.asp

 

[ryckfour]

thanks

Thanks Mark

Will sort out all the records and submit this one as part of the list. have been trying (without success) to convince myself that this wasn't a Shikra for about a week now. Doesn't seem to fit anything else well.

Deryck