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Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife


Postby denfinella » Mon Dec 06, 2021 5:36 pm

Apologies for the grainy photo which has been enlarged a lot! ID welcome :)

Bird.png
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby Mal Grey » Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:06 pm

My instinct, without knowing size, is sparrowhawk.

Definitely not sure about it though!
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby denfinella » Mon Dec 06, 2021 11:46 pm

If I recall correctly - a bit smaller than a buzzard?

I don't think it was a kestrel - I think I've got a fairly good handle on what kestrels are like.
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby Caberfeidh » Tue Dec 07, 2021 11:05 am

Goshawk, heading home after a heavy night out?
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby K Armstrong » Tue Dec 07, 2021 2:49 pm

A vote for kestrel here, female or juvenile. I think sparrowhawks have fewer but broader bars on the tail. The overall effect is quite brown/buff too, though that could be a trick of the light.
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby tigerburnie » Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:08 pm

Can't tell from that shot, where were you, residential area, woodland, open fields?
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby KatTai » Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:50 pm

I'm saying kestrel, could just be the photo but pretty sure I can see the black tear below the eye and looks like a brown head. Also can't see a white eyebrow which would point towards sparrowhawk. Tail also looks more like a kestrel than a sparrowhawk to me.
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby Alteknacker » Tue Dec 07, 2021 7:57 pm

This is 99% sure a sparrowhawk (but I'll stand corrected by David Main if I'm wrong!!!)

Rationale
wing shape rules out kestrel or indeed other falcon
barring on underside of tail rules out kestrel
wing shape wrong for buzzard
head proportions not really right for goshawk (too large in proportion to body
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby CharlesT » Tue Dec 07, 2021 8:47 pm

Alteknacker wrote:This is 99% sure a sparrowhawk (but I'll stand corrected by David Main if I'm wrong!!!)

Rationale
wing shape rules out kestrel or indeed other falcon
barring on underside of tail rules out kestrel
wing shape wrong for buzzard
head proportions not really right for goshawk (too large in proportion to body

👍👍
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby denfinella » Wed Dec 08, 2021 1:57 am

Apologies for the late reply, and thanks for all of yours!

It was at St Ninian's near Kingseat. Former mine, now scrubby grassland, not many trees.
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby Mark Darling » Sat Dec 11, 2021 4:45 pm

This is a Kestrel
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby tigerburnie » Mon Dec 27, 2021 10:16 pm

Female Sparrow Hawk, with no size indicator I just wanted to rule out a Goshawk.
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Re: Bird of prey ID, St Ninian's, Fife

Postby Alteknacker » Mon Feb 14, 2022 1:38 pm

Just to put the record straight ref. my identification.

I now think I got my twickers in a knist with regard to the underside tail barring: sparrow hawks have typically 3 tail underside bars, so I don't think that this can be a sparrow hawk. Kestrels have 6 or 7 underside tail bars.

:oops: :oops: :oops:
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