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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

A Sparrowhawk by another name

(With apologies to Shakespeare!)

After market yesterday, Sue, Petro - a friend visiting her from SA-and I drove to the dam to see what we could find. Along the road, we spotted a variety of LBJ's (little brown jobs) starlings, drongos, doves and flycatchers. As we approaced the dam, Petro (who has become hooked on birding in the space of three days of visiting the Valley) pointed excitedly to a bird sitting quietly in a dead tree on the bank.

Sue stopped the vehicle  below the tree and surprisingly the bird (a raptor of some indeterminate  identification) sat there while three crazy ladies clicked, clicked and clicked away! Even when we'd had our fill of images of this stunning bird, it remained in the tree. Which makes me think it might be a juvenile. 

We also decided between us that it's a Shikra but when we downloaded our photos, the doubts set in. We've all labled our bird as a "Sparrowhawk" but will change it should anyone out there give us a positive ID. Meanwhile I share a few photos of this beautiful bird with you.



For more beautiful birds around the world, click here
Unidentified raptor spotted at the dam this week

20 comments:

  1. Wow! She is a stunning bird. I love the long tail. My you are so busy there in the valley with visitors galore. that keeps for never ending excitment ;-) Hugs. xx

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  2. Definitely some kind of HAWK --but can't help you put a name with that one... Gorgeous bird!
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  3. It really is lovely, Jo, although I still have some antipathy toward raptors ever since the neighbourhood pair of Merlin Falcons and their youngster decided to use our big trees as a dining room. I opened the back door and found the deck covered in the heads, wings, tails and feet of songbirds. I've never quite recovered from the shock of so many bodiless birds.

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  4. A stunning bird Jo.
    My best guess would be a Sparrowhawk too.

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  5. It's a beauty what ever it is. You were lucky that it posed for you.

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  6. Stunning with bot vertical and horizontal stripes. Nice shots Jo.
    I'm still not quite conversant with my new camera, the manual is longer than most novels, 323 pages!

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  7. such a unique pink nose bridge around the beak. neat bird!

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  8. I was waiting to see this one Jo. Petro has a gifted eye it seems! Nice of the bird to sit so calmly for you. The length of those tail feathers is remarkable!
    Love the header too, a house cat in the Rift Valley better keep it's head up!
    Cheers to you!

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  9. What a look !! Looks like my Rosie when she sees a bird, lol !
    Beautiful bird looks a little like an owl.

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  10. This is beautiful, captured at the right angle.

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  11. A very cool bird -- nice find!

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  12. This is indeed a beautiful bird, Jo. I like the striping on the tailfeathers

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  13. A beautiful bird to see... great images

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  14. Great close-up's Jo! Love the markings on the underside!

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  15. Great shots of the bird, Jo! Could that be a Kite? Or maybe a Kingfisher? Beautiful, whatever he is.

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  16. Beautiful! I dont know what it is, but you took great shots of it.

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  17. Very cool raptor Jo! I think it must be some kind of Sparrowhawk too. Apparently you have many varieties of Sparrowhawk over there in Kenya!

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  18. He looks very much like our Gabar Goshawks over here, except the beak would not be red. Have you managed to identify him yet?
    Such a beauty!

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Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate your feedback. Jo