Hobby or Peregrine? Paris, France, 12 May (1 Viewer)

[pjacobs]

I saw a Falco this afternoon circling some water on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne. The lighting is terrible but I was hoping someone could confirm the ID.

I thought Hobby in the field, but looking at the photos I thought it could possibly be a Peregrine. I've never ID'd a peregrine with just a silhouette like this so I'm not confident.

Thanks for the help,
Peter

 

[Butty]

Not bulky/chunky/broad-winged enough for peregrine. Presumably hobby.

 

[01101001]

You can make out the face pattern and the streaking on this one:

EDIT: Seems wrong for an adult Peregrine, which has horizontal streaking. I'll leave the rest to others.

 

[Sangahyando]

Also, the bill is too small and the tail base too narrow for Peregrine.

 

[Essex Tern]

Go to town on the editing and red colouring comes through (admittedly with other artefacts, but it’s in the right place).

 

[01101001]

Go to town on the editing and red colouring comes through (admittedly with other artefacts, but it’s in the right place).
View attachment 1509561

Did you do it online or in a dedicated program? (I have a few photos that could use some lighting up myself.)

 

[Essex Tern]

Did you do it online or in a dedicated program? (I have a few photos that could use some lighting up myself.)

Downloaded and edited in Lightroom.

 

[pjacobs]

Go to town on the editing and red colouring comes through (admittedly with other artefacts, but it’s in the right place).
View attachment 1509561

Wow, you can't miss those red trousers now. I need to learn how to do some photo editing. Thanks for the help.

 

[THE_FERN]

Wow, you can't miss those red trousers now. I need to learn how to do some photo editing. Thanks for the help.

Or gimp (free), or various free windows programs, or...

 

[Earnest lad]

A good free program for basic editing (The one I use) is Irfanview. And I concur with the Hobby hypothesis

 

[MacNara]

Go to town on the editing and red colouring comes through (admittedly with other artefacts, but it’s in the right place).

I disagree with the visibility of the red colouring. I think all you can see in the retouching is the legs (which may appear a bit reddish because of the retouching). I tried myself and that's all I got. I agree that it's a Hobby, but I think female or juve. If it was adult male, there would be more and more obvious red after this retouching.

 

[Butty]

I think all you can see in the retouching is the legs

The red goes right back to the tip of the undertail coverts (not just the area of the legs), so I think it must be reddish feathering and the bird must be (largely?) adult (sexes are alike).

 

[MacNara]

The red goes right back to the tip of the undertail coverts (not just the area of the legs), so I think it must be reddish feathering and the bird must be (largely?) adult (sexes are alike).

Well, I couldn't see this Butty. I did some more lightening on the adjusted photo (for my own amusement). I think all you can see are the legs, and then some slight artefact spreading between the legs because of the heavy adjustments. I don't think there's enough red for an adult male (or female if they are the same; I admit I thought the female was less red).

But, no big deal.

 

[KenM]

Well, I couldn't see this Butty. I did some more lightening on the adjusted photo (for my own amusement). I think all you can see are the legs, and then some slight artefact spreading between the legs because of the heavy adjustments. I don't think there's enough red for an adult male (or female if they are the same; I admit I thought the female was less red).

But, no big deal.

View attachment 1509705

Agreed 👍

 

[Essex Tern]

I disagree with the visibility of the red colouring. I think all you can see in the retouching is the legs (which may appear a bit reddish because of the retouching). I tried myself and that's all I got. I agree that it's a Hobby, but I think female or juve. If it was adult male, there would be more and more obvious red after this retouching.

All three had similar colouring, so the red feathering I believe is causing the red artefact.
I just decided to post the best of the bunch knowing what I knew on the other two.