It’s been a while since we ran a Bird ID Challenge. Over four months in fact. Now that we are slowly going back into winter and the migrants will be departing, apart from the odd one that gets left behind, the field of birds to choose will necessarily be smaller, making IDing slightly easier. At least one would hope.
The reality is that a number of birds that breed over the summer will be moulting their breeding plumage and returning back to fairly nondescript versions of themselves, making things significantly harder for even the most avid birders to tell what they are.
Today’s challenge features three birds, which thankfully are all the same species:
Have a good look, type your answers in the comments section below, and look out for the final ID in tomorrow’s Week in Pictures…
Good luck!
James, I think it hawk
Amur Falcon or a Kestrel?
Nice one. Amur…
I don’t know James! You couldn’t show us their heads? Ha! Some sort of hawk with a fan tail…but w/o cheating, no idea! We have beautiful ospreys around here (SoCal) we love to watch on our walks.
Our lesser stripped swallows left yesterday, but they left two little ones behind. The nest is right here under the roof by my kitchen. So I talk all day to these little ones and even rescued one by putting her back in the nest 3 times when she was still learning to fly. She is strong now and flies well, but in the begining her little feet could not grab onto something, so she could not sit. But now she is much better and sits on the electrical cord outside and talks to me. So I am going to say swallows as my ID challenge.
Taita Falcon?
Hi Christiaan. We wish! Taita falcons don’t occur here; their habitat is generally around cliffs and gorges (they nest on high cliffs)…
peregrine falcon
Lanner Falcon
Black headed tern
Amur falcons?
Correct!
Hi James, Given that there are three birds and they look like raptors wings shapes I will go with Amur Falcon as they should still be around. Darker wing tips suggest possibly Eurasian Hobby but as Londos has had only one previous sighting that seems unlikely
Hi Ian, correct!
(we’ve actually had a couple of Eurasian Hobby sightings; usually one or two per season, especially if the bird in question hangs around for a few days…)
European Roler
Are they Amur falcons? Red-footed falcons? Long pointy wings, gathering to migrate about this time of year. We saw a flock of them at Londolozi in 2019…
Hi Holly, correct!
Very late to this, and haven’t yet gotten to the later blogs, but I’m saying hawk as well!