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Here is your pic with highligths showing the streaking...

Ja ok!

No really thanks Lizet.. I have been holding of ticking this bird as a Steppe just to be 100% sure.

I personally think people easily mistake them in the park for Dark Tawny's and LSE's. So before I ever tick it as a lifer I want to be 100% sure

No problem

The easiest feature I would say is the wing shape which is also wrong for Steppe, but a bit more difficult for me to describe..

Ja, you probably want to take a ruler and put it against the blerry things wing to show me.. hey?

I bow to the expert of course, but......

Ok I had another look


On the other hand DD....

I agree that this bird seems to have a very bulky build and a very heavy bill which will fit in better for Steppe Eagle (if you ignore colour which can vary a lot). The plumage looks very worn so that can change the wing shape drastically and it seems as if the tail feather on your left hand side could be a new feather while the middle feathers are old so that means the new growth shows barring which will indicate (and I quote... ) Steppe losing his last juv. plumage...

so make your pick!

Anybody got round to zooming in on the nostrils yet?

Lovely debate guys and I definitely can't help you with this one seeing as I am the person who posts every second raptor I see!!

I was wondering if you have to be born a Libran to do birding as it seems that you have to be continually weighing up options and never really come to a decision! Well that is my excuse for posting so many here and I am sticking to it!

But seriously guys, I really love all the help I get on this thread and appreciate the time you spend on it.

Well I am a Scorpio so, as stated, I go by snap decisions and worry about it later.

[quote="Lizet Grobbelaar]

so make your pick! [/quote]

Ag no man Lizet Dont do this to me

Ok, all jokes aside. I have seen ama-plenty LSE's, especially during the raptor run at Satara and one thing I can say with confidence is that this eagle was bulkier and bigger looking for sure. I didn't even think LSE at the time of seeing it. In fact I was weighing up my options between a dark form Tawny and Steppe Eagle. It was only when I looked at the pics did the wing shape and the typical white line convince me that Tawny was out and that LSE was in.

I looked at some pics on Trevor's site and he has some nice immature Steppe's on there that also shows that worn plumage quite well.

With all that being said, I am still convinced this is in fact, like you said and as I thought, a Steppe going through that Juv-Adult plumage variation.

The size of this bird alone is the thing that is banging in the back of my mind


Ok before I make a final call on this Eagle I will upload two more shots of different angle's and also crop into the facial area to tjack those nostrils!!

Now.. just one thing.. please don't come back to me and tell me you have changed your mind into thinking that it is a Greater Spotted Eagle

I have googled maybe 50 Steppe eagles so far and have yet so see one with streaking on its breast. Not that this is not possible, mind you… but it does bother me because Steppe eagle is my pick.

One ID feature that is very visible here is the barring of the large flight-feathers of the wing that differs significantly between the spotted eagles and Steppe. In Steppe the barring is coarse, with fewer and more sparsely spaced bars to each feather compared to the two Spotted Eagles, very much like the bird in question.

It is plainly not a greater spotted eagle, because it will have finely barred large flight-feathers (remiges) with the barring confined to the median section of the feather, leaving basal and distal parts plain.

Lesser spotted eagles have dense and uniform barring of remiges, covering the entire length of the feather. If you were to count bars on the visible portion, you will get ten or more, where with a Steppe eagle you are not likely to get much past eight bars.

Someone, please show me a Steppe with a streaked breast!

The size factor and the short, broad neck all count for Steppe...so I will stick with Steppe.

Unfortunately and most of the times with these photo ID's we don't have all the info like the giss, wing beats etc to make a definite call and with a worn young bird it makes it just more interesting! But you where there so based on the fact that you got the impression of a very big bulky bird it most likely is a Steppe...

Cheers
Lizet

Thank you for all the informative comments guys, it is very cool to read all this stuff regarding the BBJ's

Here is a cropped close up of the Facial area.. to me it looks like a slit nostril. Maybe starting to cancel out LSE?


IMG_8770 by DvdBergh, on Flickr

It's a Steppe. Interesting debate.
May I make comment? Giss? Is that a RSA accent? We pronounce it Jizz. Not being rude, Just an old geezers curiosity and fascination with our common languages and the regional variations. Giss to us would be pronounced as in Goat with a hard G and a sss sound.

Maxwell,

The only thing I know is that it stands for - General Impression Shape and Size.
How you say it, I don't know - But I do know that it can be used in a rude way too....

Regards
Lizet