What about this bird of prey? (1 Viewer)

[aliborb]

Anybody able to say what this might be? Spotted on some farmland near Pagham RSPB around Chichester a few weeks ago. There were two of 'em

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello,
welcome to birdforum from me, too!

Do you have more pictures?
First jizz look is: it is either a Sparrowhawk or a Goshawak, but after downloading and enlarging the picture, I realized that heavy artefacts might well changes jizz and features.
I get a strange feeling from the appearant bulb at the forehead and the strong contrasting whitish cheek. But thats the point: what is real and what is an artefact here? If forced, my bet would be on a Sparrowhawk, but with many ??? No offense as always!

I hope for more pictures and comments!

edit: I just realized, that I am surely biased by the post of the bird. Sparrowhawks regularly rests on such buildings like here, Goshawks and Common Buzzards not (rough rule, but so many times true)

 

[tconzemi]

Same impression here: more artefacts than bird, first feeling is Sprawk (colour!) but than, where is the tip of the long tail? And that head and bill look substantial, so gut feeling is now Common Buzzard ... or something else

 

[aliborb]

I think unfortunately all my photos are basically as poor quality as one another haha. It did seem quite large with a big head

 

[Butty]

At first glance it's sparrowhawky - just because of the temptingly-grey colour?? But I suspect it's probably common buzzard. Two together would also be more likely if buzzards.

 

[_pauls]

Common buzzard for me.

 

[aliborb]

I think it was more brown than the photos let on so I suppose that fits with common buzzard too? Thanks for all your help!

 

[KC Foggin]

Buzzard was my first guess.

 

[aeshna5]

Common Buzzard for me too.

 

[pianoman]

Still thinking it might be Sparrowhawk, in comparison to the I-beam nearby it is quite small. I recently had just such a distant rear view of a perched Sparrowhawk and it caused me to wonder, until it took off and then looked like its normal self

 

[PaulCountyDurham]

'Difficult to tell given the distance and weather conditions, but I reckon this bird has a gait more like a sparrowhawk than a buzzard.

 

[dantheman]

I can't get my head around the birds head looking like a cross between a Wood Duck and a Smew (or maybe something else I can't think of right now ... ;-) )

Looking at Tom's altered image in post #3, however the front of the head and top of bill are white and presumably lost in the original. On the basis that it has quite a chunky bill that moves away from Buzzard ... white blotching on back on original also goes ok with Sparrowhawk.

 

[stevethehydra]

This bird does look small (could be an illusion from bigger-than-typical roof beams?) but structurally it looks much more like a Buzzard than a Sparrowhawk to me. Wouldn't a Sparrowhawk's tail protrude past the dark part of the roof and be visible in front of the light-coloured beam?

Also given how desaturated the whole photo looks, the colour looks closer to Buzzard brown to me than Sparrowhawk grey...

 

[stevethehydra]

I can't get my head around the birds head looking like a cross between a Wood Duck and a Smew (or maybe something else I can't think of right now ... ;-) )

Hooded Merganser with its "hood" down, maybe?

I think it's the light cere blending with the background that gives that impression.

 

[dantheman]

Hooded Merganser with its "hood" down, maybe?

I think it's the light cere blending with the background that gives that impression.

Going that way, but more Chinese Goose type ... think a random bird from my memory as appropriate for some of these id threads as some of the actual birds in them ... ?!?

Not sure if blending or burnt out - or photographic effect, but yes.