Håndsvingfjerenes farvemønster passer godt på rørhøg, ligesom jeg synes at jizzet peger i den retning, men det er godt nok en mærkelig hovedtegning!
Mvh
Tommy

Lige når man ser den, tænker man pied harrier. Men vingeformel passer vist ikke og det sorte på halsen burde nok gå længere ned. Jeg er uden for rækkevidde af litteratur til at bestemme den, men er enig i at det nok er en rørhøg han.

Denne fugl er stærkt afvigende i forhold til den gængse opfattelse af Rørhøg, men jeg har set lignende individer hos hanner, og tror at der er tale om en adult han Rørhøg. Den ligner i øvrigt mest Eastern Marsh Harrier, der dog burde have haft tydeligere striber mellem sort "hætte" og hvidt bryst samt - måske vigtigere: mørkspidsede armsvingfjer og lidt tværbånding på inderste håndsvingfjer.
Vi skal nok vende os til at se Rørhøgen som en af de mest variable hjemlige rovfugle.

Ja, Rørhøg adult han. I slutningen af 1980erne opholdt der sig en Rørhøg han med stort set samme dragtunderside ved Brabrand Sø i to ynglesæsoner. Vi lokale fuglekiggere døbte ham "Smukke Arne".

Rørhøgen her har været genstand for naturlige spekulationer, og jeg har checket lidt yderligere, bl.a. fotos der viser oversiden, og sammenlignet dem med de østasiatiske kærhøge.
Fuglen kunne ligne Pied Harrier, der dog burde have mindre sort hætte, skarpt afsat fra hvidt bryst, samt mere udbredt sort på vingespidsen. Typisk når sort på de yderste 2 håndsvingfjer halvvejs ind mod knoen, og hos denne fugl er der tale om mindre. Oversiden ser meget speciel ud, bl.a. med sortagtige dækfjer og en smal lys forkant på vingen. Pied Harrier har sort ryg og mellemste dækfjer, men udbredt hvidt på vingeforkanten - mere som ovaler (på denne fugl er der tale om en smal lys forkant), og altså smallere mørkt felt på armen end denne fugl.
Men mange dragtkarakterer passer "bedst" på Pied Harrier - der er bare dét, at rørhøg han tydeligvis kan variere særdeles meget, og det gælder formentligt også hunner.
Eastern Marsh Harrier har lignende udbredelse af sort i hånden, men den yderste håndsvingfjer er oftest ikke rent sort, men mørkebrun med lyse tværbånd, og - som nævnt i nattens indlæg - der er normalt smal mørk bagkant og en del ekstra tegninger på svingfjerene. Desuden er oversiden ikke så kontrastrig og vitterligt afvigende, som hos denne fugl.
Mit tip er, at vi ca. én gang hver træksæson vil blive konfronteret med stærkt afvigende Rørhøge!

Regarding the type Western Marsh shown here a similar one has been seen in Finland the other day - shown here Put on Birdforum by a finnish birder (Petteri) as a possible Eastern Marsh.
I made a short comment with some links there suggesting more possible Western Marsh.
It appears as the finnish bird has been identified as Eastern by Dick Forsman, which can be seen in one of the links provided by Petteri.
The finnish bird shows no visible dark markings in the secondaries and no pale barring in the blackish primaries.
Apparently there´s some variation in male Eastern Marsh, which can be seen in the various links. Also shown in Tarsiger pages is an Eastern by Tom Lindroos from Mongolia
So, Klaus or Dick - is it possible to identify a vagrant, in this case, male Eastern Marsh in WE beyond all doubts?

JanJ

Hi JanJ and others

ID of WP´s first Eastern Marsh Harrier should surely include a very typical individual in which both upper-and underparts are documented.
Whereas al Eastern males seen by me in India and Thailand have shown dark trailing edge to flight-feathers, albeait in a varying degree. Rare cases of birds lacking this exists; harrier males are rather varying birds. The birds i have photographed invariable shows some irregular dark pattern in wing-tip between black and pale areas, which includes slight barring or spotting, often as slight, but varying barring in primaries (see photoes on Netfugl). Again, certain males may lack this.
In birds both lacking dark trailing edge to wing and this dark barring or irregular pattering, it is essential to see upperparts, which may prove to be less variable than underparts. Here, ground colouration of brown areas are genegally deeper and colder brown with broader pale feather edgings to create scaly pattern. Also, greater coverts are dark-tipped to form a narrow dark line in mid upperwing, lacking in Western.
My personal view is, that a first for WP should be an individual in all respects showing a set of typical characters; too many Western males have looked atypical (almost yearly few such birds - even females - are observed on our migration sites). Regarding the possible hybridization in overlap areas in Asia, I do not think anyone will disagree here.

Hi Jan
My immediate thoughts are much the same as Klaus’s.
The first Western Palearctic record of Eastern Marsh Harrier should of course be bulletproof – preferebly with photos excluding oddly coloured Western males. I believe Dick Forsman would think the same - which is why I am a bit puzzled about his ID of the Finish bird (does it look all that different from other strange looking Westerns?).
Here are some images of strange-looking Marsh harriers – all quite similar to the Hellebæk bird – as well as the Finish bird.
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures.php?id=showpicture&picture_id=47803
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures.php?id=showpicture&picture_id=13241
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures.php?id=showpicture&picture_id=2767
http://www.netfugl.dk/pictures.php?id=showpicture&picture_id=12726

Cheers
Sebastian

Thanks to Klaus and Sebastian for suggestions on this exiting topic! Lets se what DF say´s about the finnish bird himself...
I´m of course aware of the demands for a good documentation of both under and upperparts in such a possible record in the west. My concern was due to the variability in Eastern (and Western Marsh), as forexample outlined here
Nice pic by Klaus here and here

JanJ