Osprey or strange Buzzard?? ID Please

[Stomperone]

I went to one of my favourite places in the tamar estuary during the week and spotted a Goshawk which was confirmed by an avid bird watcher but only had my 300mm lens so the pictures were not too good. The following day I went armed with my 500mm and a 2x convertor..
I spotted something brighter than normal flying around and could not tell what it was through my lens so I took some pictures to enlarge when i got home.. I also spotted some aerobatics going on in the distance and it looks to me like the buzzards breeding in the area were not happy about this visitor

These photos are the end result .. not wonderful but if it is an osprey then It would make me and bird watchers in the area very happy.
Could someone plese tell me if this is just an abnormal buzzard or an Osprey please


Thankyou for your wisdom
Pete

[Goatboy]

Sorry, but for me it looks like a very light buzzard. Hopefully I'm proved wrong.

[Stomperone]

I am thinking the same as the wings don't look long enough ... but I am definately not an expert on bird recognition..

[Ferret]

It’s a Buzzard I’m afraid, Osprey and Buzzard are fairly easy to tell apart when soaring, look at the primaries on the Osprey the 2nd feather projects further than the 1st but the 3rd does not project as far as the 2nd and the 4th less than the 3rd and the 5th less than the 4th and the 1st. the buzzard has a different pattern here the 2nd feather projects further than the 1st the 3rd further than 2nd , the 4th projects the same or slightly less than the 3rd while the 5th projects less than the 4th but still much further than the 1st, unlike the Osprey.

To try and simplify that:-

Buzzard - furthest projecting primary is the 3rd feather and 5th feather projects further than the 1st.

Osprey – furthest projecting feather is the 2nd and 5th feather does not project as far as the 1st.

I know that sounds a little complicated but once you get the hang of it you will never be in any doubt about telling these two apart.

Hope that helps, Ferret

[Stomperone]

Oh dear,

I feared as much

I was living in hope as they have been sighted in this area before.. Who knows perhaps it was this bird they saw and reported as a Osprey..

Being able to zoom in even closer with the original images on my PC it is really suprising how light this bird is.. Obviously zooming in loses a lot of detail but the colouring and shapes show up well..

Has anyone ever seen one as light all over as this one is? I haven't..

[Tracey.A]

Sorry, but looks like a buzzard to me as well. I've never seen a buzzard as pale, but they can happen.

Tracey

[davecatt]

I shouldn't be too disappointed if I were you; I think its a male Honey Buzzard, (going by the pale undersides and the dark carpel patches).
Probably less of them about than Ospreys nowadays (unfortunately)

The top photo shows two common Buzzards (presumably) defending their territory against the Honey Buzzard (centre of picture) who is probably just passing through after having crossed the channel.
Dave

[RoyW]

Unfortunately the pale bird is just a Common Buzzard - an immature based on the lack of a dark terminal bar on the (very worn) tail + very diffuse dark trailing edge to the wing.

[faz]

light phase buzzard imafraid woukd have bee exciting if was a osprey

[RKB]

Originally Posted by davecatt

I shouldn't be too disappointed if I were you; I think its a male Honey Buzzard, (going by the pale undersides and the dark carpel patches).
Probably less of them about than Ospreys nowadays (unfortunately)

The top photo shows two common Buzzards (presumably) defending their territory against the Honey Buzzard (centre of picture) who is probably just passing through after having crossed the channel.
Dave

No way is it a Honey. The underwing and tail barring pattern is completely wrong. It's an imm Common Buzzard for the very good reasons already given. They are extremely variable, going from almost white to very dark brown.