Melanistic marsh harrier? @ Ltu (1 Viewer)

[wedejaz]

Yellow,

Saw this beauty in the fields yesterday.
My first idea was marsh harrier, but as it had no crown made me bit confused.
And the bill looks a bit odd.

 

[P.Sunesen]

Its quite normal (not melanism) for juvenile Marsh Harrier to sport an all brown head* although most individuals have more or less extensive ochrous buff markings on crown and throat.

Peter

* seemingly all dark juveniles do indeed in most instances have a golden patch on the hind crown or nape, but this is nigh impossibly to see on flying birds.

 

[wedejaz]

Cheers Peter!
Good to know.

 

[Louis_P]

Sorry to bring up an old post, but I've been using old posts as a testing resource for my ID skills recently. Isn't this most likely to be a Lesser Spotted Eagle?

 

[opisska]

Sorry to bring up an old post, but I've been using old posts as a testing resource for my ID skills recently. Isn't this most likely to be a Lesser Spotted Eagle?

No way. A straighforward way is to look at the flight feathers at the end of the wing ("fingers") and count them.

 

[Louis_P]

No way. A straighforward way is to look at the flight feathers at the end of the wing ("fingers") and count them.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[tconzemi]

Thanks for the tip!

also non feathered tarsi rule out any Aquila