i photographed this bird at Monkey Mia in Western Australia. I thought it was a juvenile grey Falcon but have since received other opinions. Keen to identify it.
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Brown Falcon for me.
No dark trousers/thighs which are always present, double teardrop (would be particularly prevalent in a light morph BF) and if that's a martin in it's claws then it looks too small for Brown Falcon - doesn't match up for BF. The feature's seem to match Hobby better (except for the crown). Maybe young.....
if that's a martin in its claws it looks too small for a brown falcon to me
indeed i doubt a brown falcon could even catch a martin.
could be an inland/arid zone pale form of a hobby.
reminds me of a time a bird was tentatively identified as a Grey Falc, turned out it was a vagrant siberian peregrine (F.p. ssp. calidus) the first aust record.
I would say a brown falcon rob.
William.S
Why BF Will, we need reasons?? I have already said (apart from other reasons) it lacks the double teardrop and dark thighs that would be obvious in a light morph such as this. The legs don't look heavy enough for BF either.
I second Mr Owl's sentiments.
I'm locking in Falco longipennis murchisonianus (see Morcombe field guide). The range of this northern race of Aust. Hobby accords with the site of observation also.
Leaning towards Hobby for the reasons mentioned by Owl and Zosterops, mainly the troused leg.
Haven't seen a Hobby this light but P&K also mention the lighter Falco longipennis murchisonianus.
I have seen Brown Falcon attack Thornbills.
Still learning about this so great to have all this information supplied by more experienced birders.
Cheers
While I cannot be 100% sure that the legs/feet are yellow, the light vertcal chest barring, the size and shape overall indicates an Australian Hobby (aka Little Falcon) more so than Brown Falcon. Browns would be a heavier looking bird. This falcon is quite petite.
You should try to boost the saturation a fair bit that may bring out the leg colouring. Yellow in hobby or grey in Brown Falcon. But the other observations above are more indicative of hobby and should be sufficient.
Brown Falcons are -by falcon standards- generally pretty clumsy hunters, preferring to hunt on foot for reptiles, rodents etc. ala the Secretarybird of Africa. or still hunt from a exposed perch channelling a Kookaburra. They can also hover, less proficiently than a kestrel. Occasionally they can flush out small passerines from cover with a low glide, but i doubt one could catch an aerial specialist like a swallow in flight (an undertaking of which Hobbies have no such trouble).
It is a Hobby
This promoted a lot of discussion on here and on a couple of other sites I posted on, and I sent it to two experts in raptors and it seems the consensus is that it is an Australian Hobby. Thanks for all contributions