Red-footed Falcon sexing

[Marcus]

Hi All,
Some lovely photos of Red-footed Falcon around at the moment but one in particular caught my eye on the Surfbirds Euro Scarce Bird page. Have a look here (http://www.wild-serbia.com/gallery/nove_fotografije/Ptice/slides/IMG_9382s.html) and could someone tell me what age/sex the bird "on top" is please? I'm confused :puzzled:

Many thanks,
Marcus

[birdertrev]

So is he by the looks of things !:err:

Trev

[Christian Brinkman]

2nd CY male, although a rather slow moulting one.
According to GénsbØl Red-footed Falcons can be very diverse considering their moult, some can be almost similar to adults, the only thing they haven't moulted is their wing, with which they start in August / September and perhaps their tail but that too can be moulted in spring. But this one hasn't even moulted a great deal of his headfeathers!
This picture : http://www.waarneming.nl/fotonew/1/333311.jpg shows a similar bird (5th from the top) although that has moulted his headfeathers..
These birds can be a possible problem for correct identification on age and sexe (this one shouldn't be too much of a problem though, regarding the possition he's in :beer: ). It's intriguing how much Red-footed faclons can differ in moult stages and a great help it is that there are so many at the moment (although I only saw one..).
Thanks for sharing this interesting bird!

PS: The picture shows a great amount (19) of a group of 34 currently on a heath in the northeast of the Netherlands