Sparrowhawk or Shikra (1 Viewer)

[Birdbeauty]

Hi ,

Need help with identifying this Raptor. Two species I am stuck with are Shikra and Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Location is North India,Asia.








Thanks,

 

[dwatsonbirder]

Why not a Besra?

 

[Grahame Walbridge]

Why not a Besra?

Juvenile Shikra.

Combination of strongly streaked underparts, short pp and thick tarsi rule out Eurasian Sparrowhawk while weakly barred upper tail and the thick tarsi are wrong for Besra. I don't think the images are quite good enough to make out the precise colour of the orbital ring which is grey in Shikra; yellow in Eurasian Sparrowhawk and Besra.

Grahame

 

[andyb39]

Where exactly did you see this?

Eurasian Sparrowhawk is definitely ruled out on account of the vertical streaks on the underparts. The well-marked head and apparently quite rich brown upperparts seem to favour Besra, but the bands on the tail are rather narrow.

 

[Birdbeauty]

@andyb39

Saw this in New Delhi, India.

 

[Birdbeauty]

From all the useful pointers I got , I think its more likely to be Shikra as Grahame also suggested. Thanks all !