Hi all,
wondering if someone could help as i'm going round and round on the BOP ID pages.
On Sunday i went for a walk down The Haven in Boston, there is a spot where you have a river on your right and farmland on the left with brush and trees, shrubs, bushes etc...
I looked up and thought I could see two crows messing around in flight... then I realised one was a BOP... he/she kept dive-bombing the crow, then the crow would try and have a go back... this went on for 3/4 minutes before the BOP gave up and swooped over the farmland and down into some crops. Unfortunately I was camera-less. :(
All i could see was that it was slightly larger than an adult crow, pretty stocky and definitely not a Red Kite or a Buzzard (I am pretty used to seeing them now and could ID them from 20 miles away lol)
It was dark in colour (all i saw was its belly) with a white or lighter colour V just under its neck and what looked like similar on the end of its wings... it had similar wing silhouette to a Buzzard but not quite the same...
Thank you
PN
Striving to be a better Photographer whilst looking after two young children... :0/
Owning a Nikon doesn't make you a photographer... it makes you a Nikon owner!
Could have been a female kestrel, or even a hobby.
Less we forget
Thanks Skipper... I think it was larger than a kestrel and a bit stockier but never seen a hobby before so will start googling :)
Have a look here Nicky www.rspb.org.uk/.../86286.aspx
Regards Alan
My photos are on Flickr and Website
Thank's doggie, was just looking for a picture.
I see Alan has directed you to my thread of a perched Hobby. I rather doubt it would have been one of these attacking Crows. They are quite lightweight birds of prey but very agile and slim, quite like a very large swift in shape. Here's a not very good pic of one in flight.
Don't know what to suggest. I suppose a Peregrine is a possibility. They might have a go at crows.
Regards TJ
My Flickr photostream
I've seen a Kestrel and a Crow interacting with each other, i thought the Crow was attacking the Kestrel but when they parted the Kestrel went back to the Crow as if they were playing with each other.
At this time of the year how about a migrating Osprey?
Good one Alan but in my view Osprey do not seem as agile as this bird when dodging corvids,despite the size /colour variation a Buzzard could still be a possibility as in my opinion there is a great variation in size and colour of markings among Buzzard in our area.The dark colouring could point towards female Marsh Harrier and they are turning up in many places at the moment.
Pete
Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can
Sounds like a Buzzard to me - they are extremely variable, a bird witnessed behaving differently from the way that it is has usually been seen by the observer can often seem to be something entirely different (and can look different structurally).
Blog: http://www.buteowildlife.blogspot.com/
But don't rule out any of the other's, just keep an eye out with your camera, I feel if it was a buzzard you are proficient enough to tell, size alone, for one, and it is a bit sluggish than the others mentioned.
Thanks everyone... looking through all the photos I think it was some sort of 'Harrier' due to the silhouette and the colourings... I wish it had been an Osprey but I think the colours don't quite match. Will definitely keep camera nearby in future :)