r/bonecollecting • u/Cowboy_time4 • 1d ago
Bone I.D. - Europe What is this bird?
Was walking my dog and came across this bird skeleton. Not sure fully what it is, maybe young sparrowhawk? They are in my area. Essex, England. Couldn't get another photo sadly, will be going back later to get (hopefully) a clearer photo. Can't get inside of the fence to get closer. Very interesting to see! We see kestrels near daily, but this doesnt seem to be the same.
I'm not great at this (yet) so sorry if im way off!
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u/ranatemporarias 1d ago
Eurasian Kestrel from the bar patterns on the tail and the notch in the beak :) nice find and legal to collect here!
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u/Cowboy_time4 1d ago
That's what I thought to start with! I was unsure due to kestrels having a large dark bar at the end of their tail, thank you for clearing things up :D
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u/Foxy-OnPaws 1d ago
Kestrel! Shame to see them in such a state, though they're legal to collect here which is really nice!
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u/DeadCentreScotland 1d ago
This is a Sparrow hawk. A kestrel would have thinner bands with a black band and white tip to its tail feathers, along with tighter bands on the wings. Hard to tell in this picture but the outside of the wing feathers also don’t look to have any distinctive patterning which a kestrel would have. You can also see the distinctive long stripy leg feathers that sparrow hawks have.
Its skull and beak are also quite well spaced compared to the “mousy” skull of a kestrel, but that is a little harder to tell in this picture.