Had a visit to Cheetham Wetlands and Truganina Park at the weekend. A wonderful day out with Black-fronted Dotterel, Common Greenshank, Royal Spoonbill and Australasian Pipit being new birds for me. But the highlights by far was a vagrant Drongo and Baza (the latter I thought was a Goshawk until further inspection; needless to say a vagrant Drongo was enough for me).
Pics:
Great catch down your way.... I love them and they are everywhere up here for the moment! Noisy little devils especially at 4.30 am
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Your raptor is most likely a Brown Goshawk based on its jiss and broad wings (one thing that's hard to tell whether the tail is rounded or square), not a Crested Hawk (aka Baza). Here is an image of the Crested Hawk's underside. Nothing like yours.
http://amatteroflight.com/gallery2/d/1508-2/Pacific-Baza_1434.jpg
Happy for you to send me a full sized jpeg to
for verification. :)
I certainly thought it was one. I will copy/paste the entire conversation for the I.D.:
Me: Is this a Brown Goshawk?
http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/4384/goshawk.jpg
Doesn't exactly match the picture in my guide (must be a dark morph or similar) but not much else it can be
Reply1: I have seen a few Brown Goshawks recently while in holidays in New Caledonia, and this bird doesn't look like one to me. The shape says Baza (or cuckoo-hawk), and after a quick search, it appears that it should be a Pacific Baza: http://www.worldbirders.com/vcms/images/1353.jpg
Better to wait for confirmation though, as I don't know if there are others species of Baza in Australia.
Reply2: Flank barring like that, I would agree with Pacific Baza (which is the only Australian baza).
Reply3: Yes definitely a Pacific Baza :)
Reply4: Agreed, Pacific Baza saw one yesterday. Big "paddle" shaped wings also distinctive, they call a lot too. A nice find!
I'll also add that I published this to Birdline and they put it up as a "Collared Sparrowhawk". It seems they removed as of now.
Hence why I said "Most likely Brown Goshawk". I cannot see the tail properly and the Sparrowhawk would be square while the Goshawk rounded. I have no idea about birds of prey considering the number of experts that told you it's a Baza. Like I said, send me the FULL image don't post a little piddly crop like that here it ain't going to do you any good. Recently I was sent an image of a Red Goshawk from a Cumberland Bird observer Club member as it was ID'd by someone at the Australian Museum of all places. First thing I told him it was most likely a female Swamp Harrier and when I sent the picture to Stephen Debus, the Aussie Raptor Authority he concluded with me. Not to say I need to be right or wrong but there are a lot of people with very questionable bird ID skills and raptors are my forte. However, if this is a Baza, then that's fine with me. I would not debate with the expert responses you got. Where did you get them anyway? :)
That is the full size (not including the blue sky it was cropped from). I got the responses off birdforum. When you say "to say I need to be right or wrong but there are a lot of people with very questionable bird ID skills and raptors are my forte" I completely agree with you here. You are welcome to send the images off to a more familiar and well-known expert(s) (if that is what you were suggesting?) just to get a check on them.
The complete set is here:
http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/2610/bazakx.jpg
What I will admit is that is appears to be one wing finger short of the Crested Baza (it has 6 from my understanding and my bird has 5). If it is a Baza its going to have to be a juvie to match the underwing and colouring on the back.
Now that I can see the tail I will say Collared Sparrowhawk. Just mark my words. If my friend in science says otherwise, I will be HAPPY TO EAT THEM TOO! Will get back to ya!
My "official" report has since remained on Brown Goshawk even when they claimed Baza, see http://www.eremaea.com/Lists.aspx?List=71652. I assumed they knew more than I did, which is when I forwarded the sighting as Crested hawk. Mistake made and lesson learned?
In any case I will likely be correcting it anyway. Not to Baza, but to C. Sparrowhawk.
James
Birdline Vic claim Collared Sparrowhawk. If I saw in person especially size, flight etc I could most likely tell with ease.
So far two of my friends (one an owl research scientist, the other an environmental scientist - and both absolute experts on avifauna) agree it's a Collared Sparrowhawk. Just don't believe everything you hear on Birdforum. I must visit that thread there. I am Mr_Birdman on that site. :) I have two more experts coming back to me over the next day or two. It's a learning for all of us involved in the discussions. :)
Cheers mate
Here is what Stephen Debus had to say about your image James, once I sent him a link with my ID as a Collared Sparrowhawk.
"Hi Akos,
Your'e dead right, it's a Collared Sparrowhawk if
course, showing all the in-flight diagnostic
features of that species very nicely (except the
leg and toe length, which are not clear in the
photos). Beats me how anyone could call it a
Baza, given the overall shape, wing and tail
shape and proportions, nature of barring,
etc. And I'll bet the flight behaviour would
have readily distinguished it from a Baza. I
hope my comments filter through to the 'many
people' who thought it a Baza! They need to brush up on their field guides.
Incidentally, in such 'frozen' images that are
now possible with digital photography, the pics
also nicely show a very subtle difference from
Brown Goshawk (apart from the obvious wing shape
and tail tip), namely the bolder barring on the
flight feathers. Although the pics are not quite
sharp enough to be 100% sure, I'd say it's a
yearling Sparrowhawk with a lot of juvenile plumage remaining.
Cheers,
Stephen
"
Haha, I see what you mean. While birdforum can be a good source I will make sure to get other opinions first or at least check my field guides.
Now after that, I ask can someone tell me where to find Spotted Pardalotes, which are apparently one of the commonest sub-urb birds around here. All I'm finding is vagrants.
What part of Melbourne
It's late so I will just copy and paste from my first post:
//Had a visit to Cheetham Wetlands and Truganina Park at the weekend