Today's Birds

[Seabird]

Curlew

Cormorant on the Helmsdale River

[Seabird]

Hope someone can tell me what species of rapter this is?
9-10 inches in height
Pic taken through car door glass so is a little hazy

[Aaldtimer]

With those white eyebrowes I would say that it's a Buzzard. Hard to tell with no sense of scale for size though. Ah, sorry, 9-10". Maybe a juvenile? A bit early at this time of year though.

[Ricco]

Could be a young sparrowhawk.

[Pterodroma]

HI Seabird

Nice photograph. The raptor is a Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Aging is not difficult. Sparrowhawks complete a full moult during the breeding season starting in May, so juveniles hatched last year will still be in juvenile plumage at this time of the year. This is a juvenile bird as indicated by the worn rufous margins to the back feathers and the fact that there is no contrast between the primaries and the rest of the back – adults tend to show darker primaries. Judging by the quite regular barring on the underparts it is probably a female.

[the_count]

If the height is accurate it couldn't be a sparrowhawk but it looks like a juvinile sparowhawk which would make it 12-16 inches high. At 10 inches high it would have to be a merlin lol.
regards
Andy (alias the_count)

[Pterodroma]

Sorry Andy, but it cannot possibly be a Merlin. The underparts of Merlin are streaked from throut to belly, this bird has horizontal barring. It is a juvenile Eurasian Sparrowhawk.

[the_count]

If you had read my post correctly you should have read that the merlin was only mentioned with a reference to size. It was not a an attempt to identify the bird. There are only two raptors usually seen in this size catagory (10"-12") and they are the hobby and the merlin.

[Kenn]

That curlew has a real malevolent lok in it's eye!
I'm in agreement with our two new posters, juvenile sparrow hawk by the markings, shame that it's barred tail is not visible.

[the_count]

I think to two shots of the cormorant are great first one is obviously "first position for the Gay Gordon" and the second is looking back as if to say "ok now what" lol