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For those who are die hard bird watches I'm sure you've experienced this debate on numerous occasions.
You come across a Raptor in a tree and you start referring to your books as to what the species it is.
And so the Big brown bird debate begins, as there are many raptors that fit the description, (Big brown bird) the differences between them can be as small as the distance between the eye and the mouth never mind the differences between male, female, juveniles and immature adults, the possibilities seem endless.
These debates always get heated which increases the noise output which in turn scares the bird away half way through the in depth analysis and as a result the sightings list for the day read Big Brown Bird! its always great fun having a passion for raptors and it adds another whole dimension to your trip.

If you are a passionate Bird watcher, post some tips with regards to identifying the ever challenging Big Brown Bird. Your thoughts on the matter can always help a reader.

How to ID a big brown bird in Kruger - by BB

1. take as many pics as you can
2. post them on the raptor ID thread.
3. listen to the most convincing, technical post.

Simple

I always try to take photos showing everything. Front, back, belly, top.
Making sure I get the colour of the legs, etcetera.
In other words all the detail possible, even if the photos are lousy.
Even that blurred photo can give you the nape details making final ID possible.

But I do that with all the J's, BBJ and LBJ.

Here Stickman.

Big brown birds can be as confusing as little brown jobs, in actual fact, I find them as confusing as bush chickens.

Love your posts Stickman.
Somebody in the car always gives the BBB a name instantly, always very convincing.
Nobody else knows any better so we all agree.
Saves a lot of debate.
Most of them are "Juvenile Martial Eagles" or something else as impressive.
THEN we look at the photos later and are truly amazed that every "Juvenile Martial Eagle" is TOTALLY different so some more serious research is done once we get home and things settle down and we realise that we have seen all sorts of BBB's and still don't know what they all are.

When attending a Raptor ID course recently, the lecturer said:
Take as many photo's as possible, don't look in your book straight away, for while you're trying to find the page, it may fly away before you can take another look.
You can always fight about the ID later.
I feel for you all, we have a whole file of BBB's, dating back from the 1990's, which are lumped in the archives of my computer.
Someday when we are very bored we may try and sort out which is which.

The devil is in the details

Sometimes when you're taking pictures you can only ever get one angle and that angle never seems to be the one you need. I hate it when that happens.

I agree, Stickman, and then you post your photo on a birding forum, asking for help and sit back....
Let the arguments begin.
Experts will quibble and argue for days on end, leaving you frustrated and wishing you had just deleted the photo in the first place.

My big problem at the other end of the scale to the BBB - is the LBJ!

The SO and I each have our own Birding book, she has the SASOL, I have the Robert's - the differences in the pictures between the two books cause even more disagreements, though I tend to end up agreeing with the SO in the end, as she is always correct!

Whilst on the topic of raptors, has anyone seen the Big 6 of birds in one trip?
We have checked off 5 of the big 6 on a few trips but the Pels fishing owl has never been seen.
We've spoken to a few rangers concerning this and they have said that if you want to see it, head north and look towards Punda maria.

Any thoughts on where we might locate this elusive bird of prey?

Hi Stickman.
The Pells'Fishing Owl is a myth! It is a miss print in all the birding books and only put in there to fill up the owl section and frustrate birders into finding this unicorn of the birding world.
I go up to Punda and Pafuri area every year in November, and have yet to spot one of these ghosts of the birding world.(And then my sister goes to a private farm on the Limpopo river outside the park and they have a nesting pair in the farmers' garden! ) One day I'll go and look for it in the Okavango delta.
As for the remaining 5. . . We're lucky enough to tick them off on every trip.

Roan,

Haha a myth it is. thanks for the post we generally cheat on our trips and change the birding 6 to the birding 5 and its always a good time had spotting each individual raptor, especially the kory bustard.