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And I saw a Gymnogene in Bryanston, JHB on Friday.

Have seen one on several occasions at Redhill School in Morningside , Sandton . Incidentally I have seen White-Fronted bee-eaters and large flocks of ring-necked parakeets and lovebirds in that area as well .

Hi everybody,

back from a great stay in KTP I am working on my TR. So I need some help to ID some raptors.
For each one I have made a guess but I really need your help


Steppe buzard ?


I thought PCG for this one, but the rufous color bothers me


Red footed falcon ?


Gabar Goshawk ?


Juvenile Gabar ?


Gabar again ?


This one a steppe buzard right ?

I hope I did not make too much of a fool of myself

A big Thank you for your input

WackoRhino,
Can't make out the first and last bird but for the rest all Pale Chanters

I really haven't a clue what this one is, my best guess would be melanistic black sparrowhawk? I saw it on 22 April 2012 while stopped for roadworks in the Magoebaskloof area and it was quite far away, so the pix are heavily cropped.

arks,
Long-crested Eagle with that white windows...

WoW, really ?!? Because that would be a new tick for me. And I was wondering about those windows, but my Newman's only shows views from below for most raptors

Thanks, Lizet!

No need to feel uncomfortable WackoRhino.

We all started somewhere.

I think the first could be a juv black chested snake eagle, but I am not sure. The last also looks like a PCG.

Juvenile PCGs are rufous. I have never seen a 'half and half' like you have. Nice sighting.

WackoRhino's 1st bird looks like a Lanner Falcon to me. I agree hat all the rest are Pale Chanters, but not 100% sure about the last one.

I will post you a flight shot this afternoon to show you the windows. You have to get you more than one reference though... there is a few nice Raptor field guides available...

arks,
Long-crested Eagle showing the white windows on the upper wing coverts very nicely, this one was also taken in the Magoebas area. They love perching on the telephone poles which makes it difficult photographing them on a natural perch..

Thanks for the great illustration and the additional info, Lizet! I also googled a bit to find some examples of those windows

I know that I should have more field guides, but as I live in the USA (where I don't do any birding — except for what visits my urban back porch), I only spend time with RSA birds a few months each year (and it used to be far less, but now that I'm mostly retired .... ). The only book that travels with me back and forth each trip is my (one, very heavy) bird guide.

However, if you might perhaps recommend a (few) raptor guide(s) ....

Thank you everybody for the great info

All of them PCG but one

arks,
You should really start birding the USA, they have lots of nice birds! I would love to see a Hummingbird one day...so if I can recommend a nice Raptor book which you can use even at your home it will be "Raptors of the world" a soft cover field guide, by James Ferguson-Lees and David Christie, it's the same size as the Newman's.
ISBN:978-0-7136-6957-2

But nothing agains Newman's guide but if you want everything in one, the Sasol Birds of SA's illustrations are a bit more complete with pics of the male, female, young, from the top, from the bottom etc...when going on a trip I take only this one...

Birds of Prey by Allan Kemp as well as the Raptors of SA by Ulrich Oberprieler and Burger Cilliè are very nice Photographic guides..

Thanks for the suggestions, Lizet, I'll have a look on my next visit (I'm hoping for KTP in November ).

I, too, would love to see a hummingbird! I do always look out for birds locally (we have redtailed hawks along the Charles River) and I get some quite nice birds in my back yard (and on my 3rd floor porch in winter, when I feed them ). I get a lovely pair of downy woodpeckers in the winter and an occassional nuthatch. The red cardinals now stay year round and are very vocal just now. And one spring I came home from an RSA trip to find robins nesting atop a light fixture on my porch, where they raised four chicks!

Not too bad for back porch birding, hey?!?