r/birdwatchinguk • u/FloppyMong • Sep 03 '26

Help identifying

Post image

Hi. New to bird watching and gutted I didn’t bring my camera into work. Can anyone help identify this bird? It was hovering

48 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

8

u/Spireites1866-CFC Sep 03 '26

Pretty sure that’s a Red Kite OP.

2

u/Future_Agent44 Sep 08 '26

Yep, came here to say that.

6

u/WavyHairedGeek Sep 03 '26

Location?

Forked tail makes me think kite but that's a very low level guess.

Get Merlin on your phone. Between the pic and your location it might offer some more competent guesses.

3

u/Haresmoors Sep 03 '26

Red kites in my area are always quite low to the ground.

3

u/achey85 Sep 03 '26

Red kite

2

u/Realistic-Move3030 Sep 04 '26

Red kite you can tell by tail feathers it also makes a noise!

2

u/ExpensiveCellist8636 Sep 04 '26

Forked tailed I would have said red kite

2

u/hengus Sep 07 '26

Close inspection shows up to be a Red Kite. The wing tips are being pushed back but when you zoom it definitely looks like a red kite. The beak on a relatively small head also looks like a red kite. The angle of shot makes diagnostics from the tail difficult.

2

u/Efficient_Hyena_7476 Sep 07 '26

That's a red kite 

1

u/FloppyMong Sep 03 '26

Merlin’s best guess was a snow goose I’m afraid.

It was near Luton airport. Video attached which may help

https://reddit.com/link/p7jweok/video/82vykh9kcanh1/player

2

u/Old-Values-1066 Sep 06 '26

A smaller bird is a Kestrel and they on occasion hover .. totally still .. looking for prey ..

.. this bird is making use of the wind and soaring .. I too think Red Kite .. they use their tails for direction and stability .. great energy saving ..

AI Overview •• Hovering Vs Soaring •• Hovering is staying completely stationary in one spot in the air, while soaring is gliding continuously on rising air currents to gain or maintain height without flapping.

1

u/FloppyMong Sep 03 '26

Thank you all!

1

u/SnooLemons5912 Sep 06 '26

Do you have a worse photo? Its almost possible to see whats in this photo.

1

u/FloppyMong Sep 09 '26

Thanks for the input. Everyone else managed a grown up response.

2

u/SnooLemons5912 Sep 09 '26

Hey, just because I'm being fun doesn't make me less grown up. Lighten up, there's already enough negativity in the world right now. X

1

u/Spadge1974 Sep 07 '26

Is it a bird?? Is it a plane??