Hi Mark,
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Thanks for your note. Attached a few copies of the pics of the eagle, including some blow-ups.
My reasons for calling it LSE:
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First impression it was a lighter, less bulky bird and more straight-winged than the GPEs in the vicinity, flying with shallow wing-beats. The wings appeared long, narrower and drooped down at the primaries when gliding. Wings looked less ‘flying carpet’ than GSE and made the bird appear less massive. I always look at the position of the secondary/retrice junction which gives the LSE an appearance of a relatively longish tail - GSE often has a ‘bulge’ on the secondaries that overlaps the base of the tail, especially on older birds. Also, in the blow-up you can see the 7th primary is really short [compare with GSE pic].
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Body feathers, upper and lower coverts light brownish, lighter than flight and tail feathers, some white on the upper tail coverts. White patch at base of primaries above but not shown in pics. Head pale with lighter region on nape. Light ‘comma’ at base of primaries below.
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Notes on the pics:
1. GSE at the same spot for reference. Count primaries.
2. First view, compare head, tail and wings with GSE.
3. Blow up showing lighter body feathers and ‘commas’. Note short 7th primaries.
4. Blow up showing lighter body feathers and longer tail. White tail coverts just about show.
5. Unaltered pic shows colour, light under wing coverts, ‘commas’ and nape patch.
6. Blow up shows colour, nape, tail coverts and ‘commas’.
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My guess is a 3+ year adult.
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Alan
Hi Alan,
Thanks for posting this image. Do you have any others? I obviously can't dispute what you saw in the field but I don't think there's enough evidence in the image to be certain of the bird's identity.
Lesser Spotted Eagle is a pretty rare bird in the UAE with only 5 accepted records, and only 2 in the last 20 years, following a review of all records by EBRC in 2015/16 which found insufficient evidence to support many early records.
My thoughts on the image are that it’s too heavily cropped for many details to be assessed with any certainty. Yes, there does appear to be a double comma on the right wing, but could this be an artefact? Further images could determine if this is real or not. The clarity of the image and angle of the bird also makes it impossible to accurately determine how many primary fingers the bird has and if any are missing.
The general colour of the body & underwing coverts looks rather like the fulvescens form of GSE, of which there are many more records in the UAE than of LSE, and impossible to exclude based on this one image. I also think the impression of a pale rump patch and nape is a lighting effect - harsh sunlight on the upperparts being over-exposed on the image.
If you strongly believe that the bird is a LSE, or have further images, EBRC would be delighted to receive a Rare Bird Report to assess – a form can be downloaded via https://www.uaebirding.com/report and sent to ebrcuae@gmail.com.
Kind regards,
Mark