Lesser spotted Eagle - Israel 2008
Steppe Eagle - Israel 2008
? Turkey 2009
? Turkey 2009Saturday 1st August 2009
Those of us in the entertainment industry feel an obligation on miserable Saturdays like this to do something to brighten up everyone's day. As you know I'm no comedian and there aint much I can do for the poor so and sos camping in Wales with 3 kids. but for those enthusiasts trolling through the internet for something interesting or stimulating in a non physical sort of way I should relate that I'm in the middle of an interesting ID debate. Sorry its not a particularly local issue but not even Bartley Green or Drayton Bassett gets too many Eagles.
No, what happened was. I put a photo of an eagle I'd seen in Turkey on my website. http://bobduckhouse.fotopic.net/ At the time it was identified as a Steppe Eagle and everyone was happy with that. This week someone -bg -commented that he thought it was in fact a 3cy Lesser spotted Eagle. Not being an expert on Aquilla eagles myself I contacted someone I'd met on a trip to Isreal who must have seen thousands of both species. He confirmed that the Turkish Eagle was in fact a Lesser spotted Eagle. Good enough for me so I changed the labelling on my website accordingly. I also contacted Vaughan Ashby, co-leader of the trip to Turkey. Vaughan replied that he was intrigued and would make further enquiries himself. In due course he replied after contacting individuals who again were very familiar with both species migrating through Israel. They agreed with the original identification of Steppe Eagle. So at the moment the matter is unresolved but I await developments with considerable interest. I've put 3 images of the species in question on this blog: the bird in question and 2 shots I took in Israel of both species. Obviously the Turkish bird is a lot lower/closer, and the ages may be different so care should be taken when making comparisons but see what you think.
i dont think lesser as they show 6(and a very small 7th) 'fingers' but your bird shows 7 all of which are moderatly long,this is a characteristic of steppe,but have you thought along the lines of imperial eagle,as this bird shows some features i link with imperial,and imperial is resident in turkey too.hope this helps(by the way i am no raptor expert)
ReplyDeleteMB