Hen Harrier? in the UK (1 Viewer)

[AndrewGJones]

I think this is an immature Hen Harrier. Taken in June at Dunstanburgh Northumberland. Could someone confirm this and would you know if it's a male or female>

 

[mummymonkey]

Was it part of a falconry display?

 

[THE_FERN]

It's clearly gyr-type falcon. "Type" because falconry birds are often hybrids. Looks very unlike hen harrier: structure, shape, colour etc: that is often said to have an owl-like face. You wouldn't get a hen harrier in a falconry display.

 

[AndrewGJones]

Definitely not a falconry display. If it was a falconry display they would have told me what it was. It didn't have any jesses on.

It was sitting on the cliff under Dunstanburgh Castle right where the nesting seabirds were. There were hundreds of kittiwakes, fulmar and razorbill. There were some remains of a previous meal, a razorbill, below. I saw it take off, fly among the kittiwakes and then return to its perch. The locals though it was a hen harrier. Loads of people saw it.

Here is a reverse view set against the cliffs but more distant.

 

[Stonefaction]

Probably one of the escaped Gyrfalcons from Derbyshire back in March.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1634254755286470656

 

[_pauls]

There are a million things wrong with it for a hen harrier, not least perching on a sea cliff digesting a razorbill! It is definitely a large falcon with a lot of gyrfalcon genes in it if not a pure gyrfalcon. Wild birds do show up from time to time but away from the highlands and islands the odds are strongly in favour of an escaped falconer's bird as per stonefaction's comment above.

Still an amazing sight to see I'm sure - they are impressive birds.

 

[Bewick]

Please trust those who are saying it’s a falcon- this is most definitely a gyr. Hen harriers look nothing a like. Here’s a photo from google of a gyr.