Friday, 30 January 2015

Marsh Harriers

Juvenile - total Marsh Harriers counted 8,520. Given the complex variations in plumage and the scant knowledge of dark morphs I can only surmise about some of the birds below.

2CY Male


Juvenile

Young adult male. A lot of brown in the upperwing but very pale on the underwing.



I presume this to be a juvenile. The gap in the inner primaries and secondaries are perhaps broken feathers and not moult. The primaries all look the same age so can't be a 2CY. Impossible to say whether it will grow up to be a dark morph I guess.

Dark morph male. What a stunner. The broad black trailing edge joins the dark underwing coverts leaving just a narrow grey window in the secondaries.






2CY Female



Juvenile. Broken P10 in right wing.




2CY Male


2CY - Dark morph female? Juvenile P10 and a few juvenile secondaries in both wings.

2CY Male. Juvenile P10, dark trailing edge and new dark fingers visible. I wonder if the dark underwing coverts and body indicate a dark morph?

Female

Juvenile

Male.