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Goshawk or Sparrowhawk? Düsseldorf Germany (1 Viewer)

David_

Well-known member
Germany
Hi,

during the last weeks on 2 separate occasions I saw some raptors which I couldn't ID with 100% confidence. In field both times my impression was goshawk but I might be wrong. I managed to take some photos even though the quality is not the best (autofocus on my Panasonic GX80 is not really made for birds in flight). Do you agree with my ID or are these sparrowhawks?
Both sightings were outside of Düsseldorf a couple of kilometers apart and both times the bird(s) was/were gliding slightly above some smaller tree covered areas next to some fields just a couple of hundred meters from the river Rhine.

The first time (photos from April 13th) it was a single bird which circled above the trees for a couple of seconds and then went into the trees at was out of sight.
April-13-1.jpegApril-13-2.jpegApril-13-3.jpegApril-13-4.jpegApril-13-5.jpeg

At the second sighting (photos from April 20th) there were two birds which were rising in circles above the threes until they disappeared somewhere in the distance.
April-20-1.jpegApril-20-2.jpegApril-20-3.jpegApril-20-4.jpegApril-20-5.jpeg
 

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looks like you have both species here: the one from 13.04. being an adult Goshawk while the one from 20.04. is a female type Sparrowhawk.
 
Thanks for the ID!

As someone who started birding just last year differentiating goshawks and sparrowhawks is still kind of hard.
After reading Lou's ID I went back to the Collins field guide and read the texts on both and compared the drawings to my photos. Still I'm not able to point to exact the features which make the first one a goshawk and the second a sparrowhawk.
What I can see is the goshawk seems to have a slightly different wing shape, "more prominent" primaries and it looks a bit more whitish from below. For me at least wing shape and colour could be the result of lighting and slightly different angles of the photos.

I can say that the birds have kind of a different feel for me, but can someone point me to the exact features that mark the differences? This would help me a lot in learning for future IDs
 
Thanks for the ID!

As someone who started birding just last year differentiating goshawks and sparrowhawks is still kind of hard.
After reading Lou's ID I went back to the Collins field guide and read the texts on both and compared the drawings to my photos. Still I'm not able to point to exact the features which make the first one a goshawk and the second a sparrowhawk.
What I can see is the goshawk seems to have a slightly different wing shape, "more prominent" primaries and it looks a bit more whitish from below. For me at least wing shape and colour could be the result of lighting and slightly different angles of the photos.

I can say that the birds have kind of a different feel for me, but can someone point me to the exact features that mark the differences? This would help me a lot in learning for future IDs
I think one of the most informative features in these images is the heavy-looking body of the Goshawk, wide and deep across the breast and wide across the hips; the faded barring on the wings is also typical in contrast to distinct barring in Spar. There are other features...
 
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