Is this bird a Brown Goshawk or Collared Sparrowhawk? I suspect it is a Brown Goshawk. Pictures were taken in suburban Adelaide this week.
| Term and Conditions | Privacy Statement | Web Support by Gaia Resources Hosted by Serversaurus |  |
| Term and Conditions | Privacy Statement | Web Support by Gaia Resources Hosted by Serversaurus | |
Oooops, those pics don't display very well. :o
[p]
[p]
Hi Tokumei,
Welcome to the forum, and good work getting those shots. My understanding is that the male Brown Goshawk and the Collared Sparrowhawk are notoriously difficult to distinguish.
My initial thought was that it is a Collared Sparrowhawk, because they have less "beetle-browed" eyes (I think that means less "frowny"?) and finer legs. Your bird's legs look quite skinny (compared to a picture of the Brown Goshawk in my book) and the eyes look quite open (not "frowny") - that's why I was thinking Collared Sparrowhawk.
But hopefully someone good with BOP will come along soon to help us out!
Well done on the nice photos.
Andy.
Thanks for the welcome Andy.
The reason I was leaning towards the Brown Goshawk was because the book I am using, The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia (Pizzey & Knight), says that the Collared Sparrowhawk is "uncommon or seldom recognised". Maybe the "seldom recognised" is more the issue. :)
The bird doesn't seem to have a big brow and the tail does appear forked. Here's a couple more pics, closer shot of the head and one more from behind.
hi tokumei
i agree Collared Sparrowhawk for the reasons Andy said
al would know he is the BOP man :)
nice photos tokumei :) it's exciting when BOP turn up and stay long enough for you to capture them isn't it :)
Thanks myky.
It was very exciting. :)
The bird came to the same branch in the tree two days running. The first day I realised it was not the usual turtle dove or pigeon I see in the tree but I scared it off before I could get a good look. The next day it let me get quite close while it was eating its prey. The second shot in my OP the camera lens was only 2.4m from the bird.
I would be comfortable saying Collared Sparrowhawk. While the cranky eyebrow that Brown Goshawks have is lacking here and certainly is not the only way to distinguish between the two species, I'd also go by that you seem to have been pretty close to this hawk. In my personal experience and "research", Brown Goshawk rarely tolerates humans in close proximity, whereas the Collared Sparrowhawk has been known to be far less shy.
We've had the same dilemma up here near Murwillumbah, NSW with the identification. The photos shown here are the best way we can see of distinguishing the two birds. Our pair don't have the forked tail of the Sparrowhawk, so we're assuming we have Goshawks. They have been hanging around our property for nearly two weeks and don't come very close to our house. The biggest problem for us was that the call of our Goshawks is what the Sparrowhawk is supposed to sound like.
What suburb, tokumie? I recall being suprised many years ago to see either a brown goshawk or collared sparrowhawk flying straight up a European tree-lined street near Burnside Council.
I would say that it is a Collared Sparrowhawk. I identified the collared sparrowhawk in my area by what I think might be called the cere. In the Collared Sparrowhawk it is more of a grey colour and in the Brown Goshawks it is more of a yellow colour. Feel free to correct me though. ^_^
I'm not familiar enough with both species to say, Elle. I've had a close look at the pics in Morcombe but can't see any difference in the cere. It looks yellow in adults of both species although it's depicted as grey in the juvenile brown goshawk.
Hi guys,
I agree with all of you. I think this is a Collared Sparrowhawk because it has longer middle toes and the cere is green/grey. Bird Qld has a good Id comparison table for the two birds which was very useful for me:
http://birdsqueensland.org.au/downloads/sparrowhawk_vs_goshawk_comparison_table.pdf
Hope this helps.
Great photos by the way!