Had a nice walk around the Old Coach Road with my wife today. It was the first day we've had without the kids for years!
I think I saw a merlin but can't be sure. When I initially saw it with the naked eye I thought it was swift-like in shape. It then started to repeatedly dive-bomb the flocks of meadow pipits and was really nimble in flight. It never came that close for me to get a decent view and I'm not familiar enough to id it from it's jizz. I know I've never seen a kestrel or a sparrowhawk flying like that though. The other possibility is hobby but I'm not familiar enough with that species to id it from jizz either. Is the dive bombing particular to one of these species? I had brief views of another raptor later on that I wasn't immediately familiar with and managed a few more shots - see the gallery.
(I've put a post on the bird forum Id thread about the two raptors... http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=2838051#post2838051 )
Peregrine 1 (see bird forum thread)
Pink-footed geese around 400 in separate skeins
Curlew 7 in the grass field to the West of the Old Coach Road
15+ skylark
30+ meadow pipit
1 swallow
Update - I've taken off the possible merlin. The general consensus on the bird forum thread was a kestrel from the photos. I've never seen one behave like that though!! You learn something every day!
Update 2 - The merlin/kestrel was most likely a hobby!, but I'll never be sure.
Damian P
Hi Damian, sorry for the delayed reply, I've only just seen this. Yes the first two photos in the gallery are definitely Peregrine, Note the barrel chested / short tailed appearance of the bird. I'm not sure about the other bird, but for me it's definitely not Merlin. Two thing make me think hobby - 1) you mentioned its swift like appearance which is good for hobby and 2) It's hunting technique - Merlin is a low level hunter which chases it's prey horizontally at high speed. Obviously they do rise up and twist and turn in their pursuit, but I've never seen a merlin stoop from any great height on prey. On the other hand, hobbies do fly high and do "dive bomb" prey. I would say that the hunting technique you have described is more like hobby than merlin or kestrel. Unfortunately though, I think its tail is too long for hobby unless it's a trick of the photograph, and the only conclusion I can come to is kestrel, unlikely though that may seem. Sparrowhawk would also appear long-tailed, but sparrowhawks rely on stealth when hunting and I just can't see a sparrowhawk hunting in the manner you have described.
ReplyDeleteHi Colin, thanks for that. I actually thought of hobby before merlin but then when I started (over)thinking about it, was leaning towards merlin mainly because I couldn't see any red 'trousers' on the brief views I had. It did look quite dark and featureless but it was quite far away. Also I wasn't sure if hobbies had already left at this time of year. The thing that made it stand out was its very nimble flight and its repeated dive-bombing - 3 dives in about 10 seconds to give you an idea. I've never seen a bird flying like that, it was amazing! From its appearance, there was nothing I saw to exclude kestrel (apart from initially thinking it looked swift-like), it was just what it was doing which was unusual. As for the peregrine, that was an unexpected bonus! I didn't id it at the time, and it was gone by the time I could get a good view of it. Peregrine didn't even cross my mind! When I got home I was more interested in the first bird. It drives me mad not being able to id every bird I see! Thanks again for your help, Damian.
ReplyDeleteIt is getting a little late for hobby, but there are still one or two about. I think that there have been sightings at Burton Mere Wetlands this week, and one was mentioned somewhere else recently, but I just can't recall where. Looking again at your photos, I suppose it's not necessarily as long-tailed as I originally thought. All the photos are side on, which means that you can't judge how long the wings are in relation to the tail. It's that relationship which gives hobby it's swift like appearance (i.e. long wings making the tail look short). If you look at the photo in post 24 on bird forums, you can see that the bird has a longish looking tail, but that's because it's wings are closed so again you can't really appreciate how long they are. Also, the red 'trousers' don't exactly stand out on that bird, and they're not always obvious, especially in young birds. Interestingly, I saw a hobby in Dairy Farm Road on 4th October last year. There's a not very good photo on my blog.
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