SANParks.org Forums

Location Near Marakele .



I can't figure this 1 out , is there any part you might need a closer up of , or better view of as I have some more photos .

Greater Kestrel (Falco rupicoloides)

I agree, Greater Kestrel

Checked my book after the lead on , and thats the bird all right .

The size put me off but I see they say it is big for a kestrel , I was to busy trying to I.D. it as a juv eagle .

Another confirmed tick , thanks for the I.D. .

Lesser Kestrel is noticeably smaller than Greater Kestrel but the picture does not give one a feel for the size of the bird. Lesser Kestrel has a more slender look to it though and I do believe that the picture shows this bird to be a little more robust. Most noticeably the size and shape of the head, the Greater Kestrel has a heavier head than Rock and Lesser Kestrel.

You wouldn't believe me when I tell you on what basis I'm ruling out Lesser Kestrel but I'll tell you anyway. The colour of the talons! Not the feet, the talons. Yes, I don't think this is a feature that will ever be used to seperate other species but the Lesser Kestrel actually have white talons as opposed to the black talons of Rock Kestrel and Greater Kestrel. How weird is that huh?

I should say that, even though I'm reasonably confident of the ID, I can still leave room for this bird NOT being Greater Kestrel and here are my reasons:

1. One of the key features to look for in GK is the vertical barring on the chest contrasting with horizontal barring on the belly. This bird shows no barring on the belly whatsoever. This could be indicative of a subadult bird.
2. If this was a juvenile, the cere should have been greyish and this bird's cere is clearly yellow. Another reason why I think it is subadult but not juvenile.
3. That dark blotch around the eye bothers me.

It would be interesting to note the colour of the eye, as a white iris would clinch GK. This bugger however has its nictitating membrane (third eye-lid) closed so one cannot make out the colour of the iris.

If you have more pics, bucky, do post. It may be interesting just to make sure about this ID.

O yes, another thing I forgot to point out is the absence of a black subterminal band in the undertail - a feature which bth Lesser Kestrel and Rock Kestrel share in all plumages.

Thanks deefstes.
Would be interesting to see more pics.

Ok here goes , a heavy crop onto the bird only .
Seems as if its eyes were closed most of the time , maybe because this was taken in a bit of a downpour .
It was in a tree next to a dam , I don't know if this is relevant .

White iris. Greater Kestrel, signed sealed delivered.

I would like to redirect your attention to the photo Bucky posted

A birding friend of mine emailed me and said he visited the site and saw that one of the raptors were identified incorrectly and he pointed me to the bird Bucky posted.

According to him the bird is the pale form of the Booted Eagle.

I only have SASOL at work with me and my raptor book with photos is at home so I cannot look at other illustrations. When I looked at the photo of Bucky I was also not entirely convinced but raptors are large LBJs to me.

In SASOL I could not see the striped pattern on the chest so queried Tertius about that and also asked him to put to paper his reasons for the identification.

As Tertius is not a member of the Forum he asked me to post his reply. I’ll try my best at translating his Afrikaans message:


OK you raptor lovers. We have a new "cat amongst the pigeons" as far as the ID of this bird is concerned

I have subsequently found an illustration that shows a pale form with more striping on the chest, and looks very much like the bird in Bucky's photo.

WOW! I was spectacularly wrong once again.

Does that mean you concur with Tertius' ID?

Absolutely.

Ill go along with whatever these okes say

I believe that I am allowed to post these pics even though they weren't taken in a SAN park. The bird does, however, occur in SAN parks.

Taken 300m away from my garden in Cape Town: