Help required identifiying bird of prey

[ellieandjack]

Can anyone help?


Had a bird of prey fly over my house today which flying towards us looked like a heron with it's long legs streched out behind. When it came closer it was blue/grey and had a long broad tail. larger than a sparrowhawk, Not a kestrel or a buzzard,kite etc. Then it dived out of it's steady smooth flight into a large back garden. Can anyone please shed some light on this bird. ps location is semi rural, Mersham,kent

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by ellieandjack

Can anyone help?


Had a bird of prey fly over my house today which flying towards us looked like a heron with it's long legs streched out behind. When it came closer it was blue/grey and had a long broad tail. larger than a sparrowhawk, Not a kestrel or a buzzard,kite etc. Then it dived out of it's steady smooth flight into a large back garden. Can anyone please shed some light on this bird. ps location is semi rural, Mersham,kent

A few more details may help:

What made you rule out a Heron firstly? Birds of Prey don't have long legs trailing behind them - or are you saying you thought the 'legs' were actually the tail?

What features told you it was a bird of prey and not another type of bird?

Did you note any other features such as wing shape and underwing pattern?

When you say 'larger' than a Sparrowhawk, do you mean Kestrel size, Buzzard size, Heron size!?

How long was the tail? Longer than a Magpie tail, Kestrel tail ... etc

Perhaps if you could tell us why you ruled out a Sparrowhawk (which is the most likely BoP to land in someone's garden) - size is difficult to judge accurately.

[ellieandjack]

The tail feathers were long and looked to be around 3" wide. Underfeathers were hard to see but over all it was a grey/blue colour.I used to go bird watching when younger most weekends, but memory is not so good now days on birds of prey. 100% Bird of prey though. I am swayed towards a hen harrier, but not sure if they are in this area?It was hard to size, i would say that it was a 1/3rd larger than a kestrel and Sparrow hawk, which i see most weeks around here. Buzzards are here in good numbers, upto 6 seen at once earlier this summer. but as for this Bird I have never seen one before! It was a large bird. when i say back garden, i mean it is a large garden that backs onto open farm land. Thanks

[Picidae]

Doesn't really fit the description of a Hen Harrier tbh - females have an obvious brown gizz to upper wing with very clear white rump. Males have very obvious black hands (which even on brief views you would likely have noticed). Kent does support wintering Hen Harrier and you're located just north of Dungeness and South of the Isle of Sheppy where there's a large winter roost of Hen Harrier, so not impossible but generally they stay in their breeding grounds until Aug/September. Would be rather an unusual bird for a garden too, especially given your semi-rural location.

Marsh Harrier and Montagu's (on passage) are probably more likely in the area then Hen Harrier this time of year but even that would seem rather unlikely tbh and they are both much much larger than Kes/Sprawk - I wonder if it was an escaped falconer's bird you saw? Peregrine/Lanner/ Was thinking of the 'trailing legs' you mentioned in the first post. Jesses? Behaviour would seem to fit in terms of 'diving'.

http://img1.photographersdirect.com/...m/pd357750.jpg

http://www.alaska-in-pictures.com/da...alcon_6175.jpg