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Post by dogghound on Jun 28, 2015 20:15:42 GMT
Don't think you can be 100% sure from the image, although it alludes more towards lesser in my opinion. Most definitely not a Merlin, although always helps to say where the photograph was taken in the initial post :-)
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Post by accipiter on Aug 17, 2015 10:36:19 GMT
Flying birds of prey “can be” quite difficult to id from posted photos in fact I seem to remember one such expert saying that woodpigeons can be mistaken for a bird of prey in the field!
And as for kestrels well after watching a pair for a whole year, every day during the summer months I might add I can quite easily see where just about anyone can mistake them for a Sparrowhawk too. For under the right conditions or wrong conditions whichever way one chooses to looks at it the common kestrel can appear to have rounded wings just like a Sparrowhawk.
This photo as others have said falls into the poor quality but I have tried my best to take in account the angle, structure, and lighting on the day when this photo was taken although the wing formula and structure are difficult to interpret in posted photos of this poor quality. Wing formula and structure in this context is most important in some ways just as important as a bird’s plumage, although some would not agree.
Interestingly enough there is also some dispute how many species of kestrel there are, some say thirteen others say sixteen but the consensus seems to be thirteen. However as you may already know the kestrel is the only falcon to have such a long tail in proportion to wing length they also have shorter toes then other falcons as well. The 7th primary is shorter in length then the 10th in the lesser kestrel but both the 7th and the 10th are the same length in the common kestrel the talons are also a different colour pale white / grey in the lesser kestrel but black in the common kestrel not that it helps much here though.
Adult male lesser kestrel has (“far paler remiges”) than this bird although the ends of the remiges show broad dark margins the tail is also shorter in the lesser kestrel as well and the wings are more rounded at the ends more like a red footed falcon in fact. From a distance they may be even mistaken for a male levant Sparrowhawk too; they also have a diagnostic tail band. When the bird is flying with a closed tail the centre of the dark tail band is shaped a bit like the club playing card I always think.
This image is very tricky to id as I previously mentioned but the overall impression I wrote down was (detail lost,) but from what I can see the body is too pale and the primaries too barred for lesser kestrel so after taking (everything into account) in the final analysis I am going with a male common kestrel.
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