GAME: name that bird!

[inyathi]

@mvecht I don’t usually like to argue over the identity of a bird, that I wasn’t there to see, least of all, when I don’t have a definite alternative answer, but I’m convinced that that is not a Montague’s harrier, your bird quite clearly has horizontal barring on its breast, whereas a Montague’s should have vertical barring, as you can see albeit not that well in this shot of a juvenile I found on Wikipedia.

 

Montagu's Harrier, juvenile, Bangalore, India

Cks3976 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

 

The shot of juvenile on ebird, shows the breast markings much more clearly

 

https://ebird.org/species/monhar1

 

Of course, I don’t know for sure what your bird actually is, I don't think it’s a goshawk as I suggested, but I’m certain it’s not a Montague’s harrier, it doesn't match any of the photos or illustrations I've seen of any of the harriers, my inclination though I don't know without any other photos, would be to think that it could possibly be a cuckoo as was first suggested, purely because the horizontal barring would fit or a Eurasian sparrowhawk, because they look very similar, given you saw it in Denmark, there can't really be any other alternatives, but I don't know the answer. 

 

I guess, we will just have to leave it as a mystery and move on to whatever @Galana comes up with   

[mvecht]

@inyathi thank you for your valuable input but I am sure about the ID. As mentioned in an earlier post I saw the same bird several times during the week hunting low over the Golfcourse in true Harrier style. I also saw it take off just after the photo was taken which is why I only have this one not so clear photo. It is definitely a small Harrier (not Marsh or Hen) with very long wings and a very long tail. Pallid Harrier can be ruled out as it is very rare in Denmark except for migration (I did see one male last week). The Pallid Harrier would also have less black on the tips of the wings.

PS I do see European Sparrowhawks almost every day. I have never seen one sitting on the ground like this unless it had prey. Cuckoo would be smaller and have a much fatter neck.

PPS I have downloaded a second picture taken seconds before the first one. I have enlarged it as much as possible and maybe tweaked the colours a little too much

[Galana]

What can one say? @mvecht and @inyathi

Either way whether Cuckoo or Monty I 'win' so I have no axe to grind.

Mistakes happen. I was never 100% convinced my first call was incorrect and if you look back I even made a light hearted suggestion that the post was a wind up.

Everything about that first photo says European Cuckoo. Barred flanks, close coupled undercarriage and even the white spot on the nape of the juv. An Accipter just would not sit like that.

Now the 2nd shot, for which thanks, simply re-inforces a cuckoo. You can see the eye at the side of the head which for a dished face and binocular vision of a Harrier you simply would not. Where is the "Ringtail!?"

We were not there but...........a cuckoo has a long tail also.

Edited September 13, 2020 by Galana

[inyathi]

@mvecht I don't as I say, like to argue about a bird that I didn't observe myself and I don't wish to dispute your observations, but if you saw a harrier flying over the golf course, then I'm sorry, but that bird in your photo is not it, it is a different bird, it is not a harrier, you can see even more clearly that the barring on the breast and underside of the bird goes in the wrong direction, Montague's harriers do not have horizontal barring, seeing that second shot, I'm now convinced that it is a young common or Eurasian cuckoo, I completely agree about it not being a sparrowhawk, I can only conclude that you did see a harrier hunting over the golf course on a number of occasions and then photographed this cuckoo, assuming that it was that harrier. It simply does not look like a harrier, it's not sitting like a harrier and the direction of the barring is conclusive, no harriers that I know of, have horizontal barring. 

[Galana]

Right. To move on.

 

I am saving the Cisticolas for later and I know some of you just love young birds so here we are.

 

A good focused shot too.

 

 

 

[offshorebirder]

@Galana- Guineafowl chicks? 

Edited September 13, 2020 by offshorebirder

[Galana]

40 minutes ago, offshorebirder said:

Guineafowl chicks? 

Sorry. No.

[ElaineAust]

Spurfowl? The only photo I have is on the Roberts App and a Red-billed.

[Soukous]

12 hours ago, Galana said:

Everything about that first photo says European Cuckoo. Barred flanks, close coupled undercarriage and even the white spot on the nape of the juv. An Accipter just would not sit like that.

 

I have to say that the white spot on the back of the neck was the feature I used to try and narrow it down and I could not find a raptor with that marking. The barring on the underside made me rule out many more raptors - to the point where I had not got any idea at all, since a cuckoo had been ruled out.

[Galana]

5 hours ago, ElaineAust said:

Spurfowl? The only photo I have is on the Roberts App and a Red-billed.

Sorry. Not Spurfowl or a Red-billed anything.

 

And I think we should re-assure @mvecht that we all make mistakes. (I get prizes for duff calls.)

It can happen from 'mind set' when you are expecting a certain bird recently seen around and something roughly similar pops into view. "There it is!". Hopefully you get time to discover the mistake and go "Oh S***t  AFB!" while your so called friends crack their sides laughing but sometimes not.

It's a game and 'we' never saw the damn thing so what do 'we' really know?

 

Something similar happened only this morning. A few birders were lurking at the coast in the hope of a Great Skua seen there over the last two or three days. Suddenly a commotion among some circling Gulls as a large brown bird hove into view. "Skua!" came the cry as massed cameras were immediately aimed and rapid fired at the target. I believe they got some nice shots of 'BIF'.

Literally. B I F.. "Buzzard in Flight!"

 

[Soukous]

back to the chicks - Double-banded Sandgrouse ??

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Soukous said:

back to the chicks - Double-banded Sandgrouse ??

Nope!

[Soukous]

Red-legged Partridge??

[pedro maia]

Quail?

[Galana]

Not an RL Partidge not a Quail.

Sorry to both.

[pedro maia]

Grouse?

[inyathi]

@Galana Crested francolin?

[mvecht]

@inyathi @Galana @Soukous et al

I apologize for me being Cuckoo and making a Circus out of things.

At closer inspection of the photos I do agree that it is a Cuckoo. I am not sure how I could confuse the two species at the time, but I do believe that the sigthing was made after dinner/drinks

[Galana]

54 minutes ago, mvecht said:

I do believe that the sigthing was made after dinner/drinks

Well at least it was not pink!

1 hour ago, inyathi said:

@Galana Crested francolin?

Nearly. Better ask @Dave Williams if he will accept the lack of capital letter.

[Dave Williams]

1 hour ago, Galana said:

Well at least it was not pink!

Nearly. Better ask @Dave Williams if he will accept the lack of capital letter.

A little f so it's off . Let's be pedantic again!! Anyway its a Natal Spurfowl.

 

 

[Galana]

2 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

A little f so it's off . Let's be pedantic again!! Anyway its a Natal Spurfowl.

So missing  a low  'c' and high 'f' is grounds to be sent 'off!' And here was I thinking yours was a musical Nation.

And it's not a Natal Spurfowl either..

 

Indeed @inyathi was on the right page if not the Case.

 

 

[Soukous]

13 hours ago, Galana said:

14 hours ago, inyathi said:

@Galana Crested francolin?

Nearly. Better ask @Dave Williams if he will accept the lack of capital letter.

 

Earlier on you said it was not a Spurfowl. Because Spurfowl and Francolin are almost interchangeable these days I didn't bother scrutinising the Francolins.

It does look like a Crested Francolin though, except for the throat.

Perhaps Heughlin's Francolin

[Dave Williams]

Amazing, the chicks have grown in to adults overnight. I have never seen one but perhaps a Common Quail.

[Galana]

19 hours ago, Galana said:

21 hours ago, inyathi said:

@Galana Crested francolin?

Nearly. Better ask @Dave Williams if he will accept the lack of capital letter.

It IS Crested Francolin. My comment about the lower case 'f' was made due to problems over a missing 'c' in a previous otherwise correct answer.

 

6 hours ago, Soukous said:

Earlier on you said it was not a Spurfowl. Because Spurfowl and Francolin are almost interchangeable these days I didn't bother scrutinising the Francolins.

It does look like a Crested Francolin though, except for the throat.

That's because it is. See above. The throat looks fine to me.

 

As to whether they are ALL Spurfowl or Francolins is way beyond my pay grade.

Sinclair "Birds of Africa s of S"  does not seem capable of deciding and has them split into Peliperdix, Scleroptila, Dendroperdix (includes Crested) and then launches off with "Spurfowl/Francolins" as Pternistis (which sounds like a nasty skin complaint).

Stevenson & Fanshawe throw in the towel very quickly and call them all Francolinus but reserves Spurfowl for those with bare throats.

What is a boy supposed to do? (Rhetoric)

 

So if @inyathi is still paying attention I await his offering.

[Soukous]

19 minutes ago, Galana said:

It IS Crested Francolin. My comment about the lower case 'f' was made due to problems over a missing 'c' in a previous otherwise correct answer.

 

Please have mercy on a fella who is too easily confused.