Booted or Bonelli's? (1 Viewer)

[Jonathan Williams]

Bonjour,

This Eagle was photographed this morning at Lac de Madine in Lorraine, my local patch, and I was there this afternoon (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!)

The finders have id'd it as a Booted Eagle but for my own education, as I have never seen a dark/rufous morph Booted, or Bonelli's, why is it not a juv Bonelli's?

Does the pale upper tail patch conclusively rule out juv Bonelli's or can they show this too sometimes?? From the photos I would say it looks considerably larger than the mobbing Buzzard, but this of course, could just be perspective, and I can't see any 'landing lights' on the back-on photo, possibly just due to the angle? It's really got me intrigued!

http://www.faune-lorraine.org/index.php?m_id=54&backlink=skip&mid=6929

Cheers,

Jonathan

 

[KenM]

To my eye it looks more Bonelli's than Booted, the contasting dark fingers against the pale hand, with the narrowing tertials into the body (a touch Honey Buzzard-ish?)

cheers

 

[Jane Turner]

That's no Booted Eagle!

 

[Jon Turner]

I saw hundreds of Booted Eagles in Spain last month. None of them looked like this.

 

[rosbifs]

Have to agree looks bonelli to me...

 

[eddy the eagle]

To me this is a booted eagle juv.Pale primaries 1-4,pale upper tail coverts,not seen in Bonelli´s and just the slightest hint of of landing lights.But I have been known to be wrong before!.See page 424 in Forsman.....Eddy.

 

[Valéry Schollaert]

Immature Bonelli's Eagle IMO. En Lorraine? Fantastique!

Long neck, strong "s" shape of trailing edge with narrow base of wing, large size in comparison to buzzard. Pale orange underwing is common in immature Bonelli's.

Compare to this
http://www.andalucianguides.com/images/uploads/210/bonellis-eagle-juv_4130__large.jpg

Finally, upperparts are fairly similar to booted, but normal for Bonelli's, and we have even the start of the typical white patch on the back...

Cheers

 

[tconzemi]

Bonjour,


Does the pale upper tail patch conclusively rule out juv Bonelli's or can they show this too sometimes??

Cheers,

Jonathan

I agree with Bonelli's, look here for juv. Upperparts, pic 3 shows pale uppertail coverts http://www.israbirding.com/reports/birding_reports/bonellis_dea_sea/
Booted would show way more patterend upperparts and shape is wrong for Booted too