Please id of this Accipiter! sparrowhawk/shikra (1 Viewer)

[Ains]

Took this Accipiter today at a loss whether to determine it is shikra or sparrowhawk
Location Mount Abu Raj India

 

[Butty]

1 is a different bird from 2-4.

 

[andyb39]

1 is a different bird from 2-4.

Yes, it's a juvenile Shikra with breast streaking. The other bird is an adult (female?) Shikra.

 

[Ains]

It's the same bird. The day was cloudily attaching 2 more snaps of the same shooting sequence.

 

[Andy Adcock]

When present, as in pic 4, the mesial stripe (black line in throat area) rules our Sparrowhawk.

 

[Butty]

It's the same bird.

No, it (i.e. pic 1 in the original group of 4) isn't. The wing-tip structure and the underbody pattern are clearly different, as described above.

 

[lou salomon]

2-4 has 6 fingers, so got to be a Eurasian Sparrowhawk.

 

[Grahame Walbridge]

2-4 has 6 fingers, so got to be a Eurasian Sparrowhawk.

Was being a bit naughty here, waiting for somebody to pick on precisely that feature Lou! P1 is pressed against the leading edge of the wing making it difficult to make out. You will also note the remiges are too heavily barred for adult Shikra.

Grahame

 

[andyb39]

Was being a bit naughty here, waiting for somebody to pick on precisely that feature Lou! P1 is pressed against the leading edge of the wing making it difficult to make out. You will also note the remiges are too heavily barred for adult Shikra.

Grahame

Oops.

 

[Butty]

...in pic 4, the mesial stripe (black line in throat area)...

I hadn't looked closely at this before, but, now that I do, I rather think that the marking that is visible in that area isn't (or isn't reliably visible as) a central chin/throat-stripe?

 

[ratt]

Doesn't the breast look streaked to anyone but me. Making it a possible Besra. There is the hint of a gular stripe which can be difficult to see sometimes.

 

[Butty]

hint of a gular stripe

It's in the wrong place.

 

[jalid]

Eurasian Sparrowhawk of course has streaked throat without any real mesial stripe but sometimes one very slight resembling that may be seen. The attached photo is from Finland and this kind of pattern may be exaggerated in some photos or light conditions.

 

[ratt]

It's in the wrong place.

Why the wrong place Butty?

 

[Butty]

It appears (inasmuch as it can be judged at all in this low-quality image, no offence, etc etc) as a blob, off-centre from the median line - not a central line running backwards from the chin.

 

[ratt]

It appears (inasmuch as it can be judged at all in this low-quality image, no offence, etc etc) as a blob, off-centre from the median line - not a central line running backwards from the chin.

I have to say with due respect Butty, that it looks like so many a Besra gular stripe that I have seen. And with a slight turn of the head I have seen a gular stripe almost disappear.