GAME: name that bird!

[lmSA84]

@Geoff - I’ll try Tawny Crowned Honeyeater 

[Geoff]

@lmSA84 Correct you are. Good stuff. Over to you.

[lmSA84]

@Geoff - cheers. Beautiful shot BTW.

 

[janzin]

Obviously a wren; looks like Rock Wren to me.

[lmSA84]

@janzin - right you are. Over to you 

[offshorebirder]

This thread seems to have stalled - looks like @janzin was next up.

 

[janzin]

OMG, my apologies. I totally forgot

 

Let's try something a bit different. No doubt someone will get it in five minutes.

 

 

[offshorebirder]

I cannot quite make out the bill color @janzin, but is it a (melanistic) Gabar Goshawk?    I am worried it does not have enough white in the wing bars for that, but figured I would give it a guess.

 

 

 

[janzin]

@offshorebirder nope.  I'll give it another day or so and then give a hint.

 

[inyathi]

This looks to me like a much bigger bird and the shape of the wings is more suggestive of an eagle, quite a large one I would think. Knowing your fondness for South America @janzin I think this is probably a black hawk eagle.

[janzin]

@inyathi I just can't stump you! Yes, its a Black Hawk-Eagle, taken at Pico Bonito, Honduras.

 

Your turn!

 

[inyathi]

@janzin To be honest, beyond thinking it was an eagle I had no idea which one it was, I just correctly guessed which part of the of the world it was from and picked up the right book. What caught my eye in your photo was the barring on the legs, as soon as I saw the black hawk eagle in the book and saw it had the same barring, I thought that’s nailed it, I won’t look at another book. If I hadn’t been to South America then I wouldn’t have had the right book and would likely have been stumped. I can also see what looks like a bit of a crest, if I wasn’t pretty sure that it was much a bigger bird and also not an African one, looking through the Birds of Africa south of the Sahara the flight illustration of the Ovambo sparrowhawk dark morph does look very similar, but it has none of the barring on the legs or the underwing coverts. If I hadn’t noticed the barring, the hint of a crest would have dissuaded me from thinking it was that.   

 

This one might not be too easy, but I hope not a massive challenge either, of course, it may depend on whether you have the right book or if not if you can identify the family and then try to find it online. I will offer clues in due course.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2019 by inyathi

[Dave Williams]

@inyathi Looks like a Bay-backed Shrike to me! Saw one once in Goa,India.

 

[inyathi]

@Dave Williams very close.

 

Right family wrong bird, from the main country where you find the bay-backed you need to head east over the border.

[offshorebirder]

@inyathi - is it a Rufous-backed Shrike (Lanius schach)?    AKA Long-tailed Shrike (I don't like that name, as it is too similar to Long-tailed Fiscal).

 

 

[Dave Williams]

or a Burmese Shrike   Lanius collurioides?

[inyathi]

@offshorebirder Sorry I'm being a rather slow responding to questions at the moment, I've been a little busy.  

 

@Dave Williams Bingo, yes it's a Burmese Shrike seen in Doi Inthanon NP in Thailand.over to you

[Dave Williams]

Here's mine then!

[Dave Williams]

Anyone want a clue?

[offshorebirder]

2 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

Anyone want a clue?

 

Maybe a better image to work with...

[marg]

okay a stab....juvenile heron of some sort

[Dave Williams]

@margOn the right track straight away, it's a Heron species. The big eyes are another clue. Sometimes you don't get to see all the bird so this is the only view you have to work with and in fact was the only view I had to photograph but someone liked it, it won an award!

[Dave Williams]

Here's an uncropped version which may or may not help. Taken in The Gambia,West Africa in 2015.

That should whittle it down to very few options! 

 

[offshorebirder]

I think I know what it is (WBNH) but don't really have any worthwhile photos handy so I will let someone else answer.

[Dave Williams]

@offshorebirder Since you have given me an answer in a round about fashion that's good enough for me! Not that hard really was it I'm sure you can find something suitable to post.

 

It is indeed a  White-backed Night Heron and if anyone needs a decent shot of one try Google, that brings up loads.