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Confirmation for Montagu's harrier (Romania) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter siposi
- Start date
Alexander Stöhr
Well-known member
Hello Istvan,
yes confident ID of these two similar species is difficult, and better wait for experts who have seen many Pallid Harriers, but:
your bird looks very good for an adult female Montagues Harrier for me too:
yes confident ID of these two similar species is difficult, and better wait for experts who have seen many Pallid Harriers, but:
your bird looks very good for an adult female Montagues Harrier for me too:
- you identified the bird in the field (although the pictures are sharp and detailed and allows confident judgement of the features)
- pale, starring yellow eye good for an adult bird
- really bold chequered pattern on the axillaries
- lack of a moustache resulting in a quite uniform bleached face boarded by dark frame on the rear
Derbyfella
Well-known member
Please forgive me for jumping in on this.
However I’ve just scanned this article
andybutlerdiaries.blogspot.com
This stood out for me
“a) Pattern and colouration of the secondaries
On adult female Montagu's there are at least two visible dark bars on the underside of the secondaries which are evenly spaced, and the pale area separating them continues to the birds body. In Pallid the distal dark bar often thickens towards the body causing the pale bar to narrow, often disappearing before it can meet the body.
In second calender year birds there may be a mix of new barred secondaries with older dark juvenile secondaries.
From above the secondary bars can be seen on Montagu's but not on Pallid and female Pallid shows some dark marks on the rump, as does the adult male, which is not shown by Montagu's”
On your last photo there are secondary bars - which if the above is a good guide would indicate that the above is Montagu’s
However I’ve just scanned this article
Identification of female and juvenile Pallid and Montagu's Harriers
Pallid Harrier identification, Montagu's Harrier identification, Pallid v Montagu's, Circus macrourus
andybutlerdiaries.blogspot.com
This stood out for me
“a) Pattern and colouration of the secondaries
On adult female Montagu's there are at least two visible dark bars on the underside of the secondaries which are evenly spaced, and the pale area separating them continues to the birds body. In Pallid the distal dark bar often thickens towards the body causing the pale bar to narrow, often disappearing before it can meet the body.
In second calender year birds there may be a mix of new barred secondaries with older dark juvenile secondaries.
From above the secondary bars can be seen on Montagu's but not on Pallid and female Pallid shows some dark marks on the rump, as does the adult male, which is not shown by Montagu's”
On your last photo there are secondary bars - which if the above is a good guide would indicate that the above is Montagu’s
