Wahlberg's or Tawny?

[Seedy Saidy]

Am still puzzle to where to start, the quarry is wanting to in detail the main characteristic differences between Wahlberg's and Tawny eagles. Am in confusion to come to terms with an ID of this species I come across no expert my self, but still feels has been miss-identify.

(1) I have jutted the description of some features, the bird ID as [Tawny]= uniformly brown or dark plumage, flight view, underparts, darker or brown upper wings and bulkier body. With paler lower wings and under tail. Yellow feet, Tail very square thou not very long. 6 primary fingers, dark eyes.

What do you guys think?

(2) The most confusing for me is the second bird. Was ID as wahlberg's, thou, have not seen one like it before. A dark headed eagle, perhaps still growing, dark under wing along the edge of the shoulder only. Plain Pale all over underneath and body. Yellow feet, 6 primary flight fingers, dark bill and yellow at the base and dark eyes. V-shape tail, rounded at the end instead of squared.

Both species are viewed in flight and I apologize for being less informative, but that's all I could gather. Are they what they are?

Any suggestions will be great.

Seedy Gambian birder.

[Brian S]

Seedy

Are there meant to be images with this? In any case, you are not the only one confused by these. I have had a check of the African Birds website and come up with the following.

Wahlberg’s – a classic with narrow and quite parallel-sided wings, slim structure and soaring with the comparatively longer tail held closed.
http://birdquest.net/afbid/birdspecies.php?func=view&slideno=4&af_bs_id=311

This image, listed as Wahlberg’s by William Clark, has something of a dark Booted?
http://birdquest.net/afbid/birdspecies.php?func=view&slideno=13&af_bs_id=311

Tawny - these are classic Tawny; note the broader and comparatively shorter tail more stocky build and paler area to inner primaries
http://birdquest.net/afbid/birdspecies.php?func=view&slideno=30&af_bs_id=305
http://birdquest.net/afbid/birdspecies.php?func=view&slideno=23&af_bs_id=305
http://birdquest.net/afbid/birdspecies.php?func=view&slideno=33&af_bs_id=305

Brian S

[Seedy Saidy]

Hi Brain,

Thanks very much for shearing my concern on the topic. Big thank you for supplying extra photo links informations. Yes there are photos available, and will see in due course if possible to post it in the forum. I do appologise if they don't appear sooner than one might anticipated.

Either way, your links has been educative a lot, but still left a puzzle for me to come to terms with the birds IDs. Although I have to say the no[1] bird which is ID as Tawny maybe it. BUT my disagreement on it was the square shape long tail and the size of the body even though it may look bulkier in the photo still makes me think is Wahlberg's.

The no[2] bird is the one that confuse me most as I have never seen a pale phase Wahlberg's with such a distinctive dark head just like [Shot-toed eagle] and a V-shape rounded tail. Have any one seen this type Wahlberg's before? or is this bird a total different species.

Will do the best to get the photos posted in due time.

More information will be appreciated.

Seedy Gambian birder.

[Motmot]

This image, listed as Wahlberg’s by William Clark, has something of a dark Booted?
http://birdquest.net/afbid/birdspecies.php?func=view&slideno=13&af_bs_id=311

Brian S

It certainly looks to be a Booted, but that dark patagial area (leading edge of wing) makes it an unusual Booted to my eyes.

[Mark Newsome]

Attached is a pic of Wahlberg's Eagle from Kenya this January showing the size and structure - may help for reference.
Cheers,
Mark

[Brian S]

Mark

Great shot. What do you think of the image I have questioned as Booted - it doesn't seem to have the right number of 'fingers' for Wahlberg's yet looks a bit odd for Booted as Motmot points out?

Brian S

[Mark Newsome]

It looks much more like a Booted to me too. The wing proportions don't look good for Wahlberg's and the head is also proportionately much larger than Wahlberg's. The overall impression to me is of a 'snake-eagle' rather than an Aquila eagle.

[Seedy Saidy]

Am still puzzle to where to start, the quarry is wanting to in detail the main characteristic differences between Wahlberg's and Tawny eagles. Am in confusion to come to terms with an ID of this species I come across no expert my self, but still feels has been miss-identify.

(1) I have jutted the description of some features, the bird ID as [Tawny]= uniformly brown or dark plumage, flight view, underparts, darker or brown upper wings and bulkier body. With paler lower wings and under tail. Yellow feet, Tail very square thou not very long. 6 primary fingers, dark eyes.

What do you guys think?

(2) The most confusing for me is the second bird. Was ID as wahlberg's, thou, have not seen one like it before. A dark headed eagle, perhaps still growing, dark under wing along the edge of the shoulder only. Plain Pale all over underneath and body. Yellow feet, 6 primary flight fingers, dark bill and yellow at the base and dark eyes. V-shape tail, rounded at the end instead of squared.

Both species are viewed in flight and I apologize for being less informative, but that's all I could gather. Are they what they are?

Any suggestions will be great.

Seedy Gambian birder.

OK I know the will be helping photos for this post are not yet up as I anticipated. Should we say the NO2 bird is still possibly maturing, what futures does it have for a wahlberg's or if not, did any one have an idea which close species family it might be. The other clue I can help is watching a flying Shot-toed eagle but without the under wing, tail or body markings. If you see that you will understand my description of this eagle.

Big thanks for all your informations. More info will be highly appreciated.

Seedy Gambian birder.

[CAU]

This image, listed as Wahlberg’s by William Clark, has something of a dark Booted?
http://birdquest.net/afbid/birdspecies.php?func=view&slideno=13&af_bs_id=311


To me it looks like a Wahlberg's Eagle. Like already mentioned, the colouration of the underwing coverts is wrong for Booted Eagle, as well as the barring on the tail. On a Booted Eagle the barring would be co....r and more restricted to the central feathers. Both Wahlberg's and Booted Eagle have only six fingers at the wing tips. Compare with this Wahlberg's Eagle:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41349641@N00/1757031617/