SANParks.org Forums

From what I understand melanism can occur in just about any species. Some species have a higher incidence of melanism but that is not to say that it happens only to them. In other species it is very rare or have never been recorded but in theory it can happen. Gabar Goshawk certainly is a species in which melanism occurs quite often. In fact, I believe at least one out of every ten Gabar Goshawks are melanistic. Some sources report the ratio to be even higher. My personal database of observations indicate a ratio of 13.3%.

Ovambo Sparrowhawk also has a relatively high incidence of melanism. I don't have any statistics but it's not quite as common as in Gabar Goshawk. I've seen melanistic Ovambo Spar only once and I've seen melanistic Black Sparrowhawk once as well (although I believe in Black Sparrowhawk it is more correctly named a "dark morph" than true melanism). I have also heard of melanism in African Goshawk and Little Sparrowhawk (I think) as well as Northern Goshawk (European bird). I've even read of melanistic Augur Buzzard, imagine that!

Interesting challenge.

Apart from location, is there any reason why Black Harrier wouldn't fit the bill?

At the start of a steep learning curve, so be gentle
Thanks
Allan

Are you referring to JvR's black raptor in the tree? If so then yes, there are a number of reasons why Black Harrier wouldn't fit the bill.

Let's start with the bill Adult Black Harrier (the only plumage where the undersides aren't light brown) has a bright yellow cere which this bird doesn't have. Black Harrier also has a boldly barred black and white undertail pattern. Mostly though, the entire body structure and head structure of Harriers are just completely different. This is hard to describe but don't worry about it too much, once you've seen a few Harriers you will start to appreciate that it is a completely different type of bird.

As you correctly pointed out, the bird would be well and truly outside of its established range of distribution but only only that, the habitat is completely unsuitable for Black Harrier. Remember that Black Harriers are grassveld and feinbos birds so when a bird is sitting in a bushveld tree like this one, I'd be tempted to say there is absolutely no way it could be a Black Harrier.

Here is seemingly a straightforward pic of (probably) a White-backed Vulture.



The reason for posting: go have a look at all the books - they ALL have conflicting underwing illustrations! Only the "Birds for Africa" (and I guess therefore also SASOL as they share illustrations) show the fairly prominent dark forewing on the leading edge. But with the seeming bit of black spotting ahead of the flight feathers actually points to Cape Vulture (possibly imm)! It doesn't show the two bare shoulder patches that are typically found on Cape, but that doesn't always show either...

Maybe a bit of a discussion to get to the bottom of how to "easily" differentiate between the two species, both in flight and perched?

Check out this thread Vultures, ID Issues: Cape- vs White-backed Vultures... unfortunately there is NO easy way out!

Thanks Johan - here I was trying to help everyone out by figuring out an easy way to differentiate, and you have to go and mess us all up with such a link!!!

So the yellow eye is a key, is it?! Well, if so, see this pic of the same bird (perched with some other darker-coloured Vultures), prior to flying:



So, unless I'm TOO desparate or smoked something way too cheap this morning, is that a yellow eye I'm seeing!? So was it a CV or not!?

Hey, Moegaai!

Distinguishing these vultures can really be a nightmare, if they are at various stages of adulthood!

1.The yellow eye is indeed diagnostic for Cape, which is regularly seen in Kruger. However, my theory is that much of the time low light conditions, or funny camera angle, leads to the expanded iris making the eye seem black!

2. In adult birds, the Cape is perceptably larger than the White-backed, with the clear dark shoulder patch.

3. At a kill, the ADULT Cape seem to have a slight dominance over the others...

So to answer your question, especially with such pale colouring, I think that is indeed an adult Cape vulture!

Deefstes,
thanks for the info re the Black Harrier query.
In my defence the Newmans I have with me (prefer Sasol, but it's 10,000 km away) doesn't really show the yellow cere or the tail barring in the adult. I'll try to get a Roberts while we are over in SA again (in 13 days )
Point taken about the shape - I'll try to educate my old eyes.

Thanks again
Allan

To be honest Moegaai, When I first saw that bunch sitting in the tree, that Vulture did stand out to me as well. Thanks for clearing it up.

He kinda stands out of the crowd

I don't have enough experience of identing raptors in flight but SO keeps taking photos. Problem is they always have to be cropped to the extreme. Your help with these UFO's would be great.

Bird 1 - pic A

pic B


Bird 2


Area - Golden Gate to Sterkfontein Dam, Feb 09

Yellow-billed kite. The "lumping" of Milvus migrans and M. aegyptius makes this a relatively easy ID based on the classic kite tail shown here. However, if you want to split feathers, it becomes trickier... then I cannot help further with the visual information available.

All three of those look like Yellow-billed Kite to me, and all three of them in some stage of moult.

*EDIT* Again JvR beat me to it and again, I wasn't informed that another post had been made when I submitted mine . Anyone knows when that message is displayed and when not?

IMG missing
Hey guys, there has been a lot of speculation about this one on another forum. It seems to be a conflicting little birdie. I have heard everything from Tawny to Lesser Spotted to Wahlberg's. Does anyone here have any further ideas or concrete suggestions on who this little fellow could be?

This is another angle of this baby. Oh, and I almost forgot...
These pics were taken in the forest near Punda Maria in January 2008.

@JvR and Deefstes

Thanks so much for the yellow billed kite ident.

I think you were still speaking English to me JvR!

Deefstes - Thanks for the double quick confirmation!!