July 24. 2008 18:14

Hi there,

My Fijian friend Shiva Sharma, directed me to your blog. Very nice photo. I am not familiar with Fiji birds but here is my take on the above photo:

This bird is from the accipiter family. Its a raptor (bird of prey). The rufous barring/streaking on the underside and overall jizz is typical of an accipiter. Looking at Fiji's bird list, I found that there is only one species of accipiter in Fiji - it happens to be called "Fiji Goshawk". I see the yellow cere & yellow eye-ring in other photos of this species from the web. The distinct underside markings possibly indicates a juvenile bird. Juvenile accipiters are some of the hardest birds to identify but since this was photographed in Fiji, I am fairly confident this is a juvenile Fiji Goshawk. This species is endemic to Fiji (meaning it is only found in Fiji).

Have fun. Birds are fun

~Pritam.

Pritam Baruah

July 24. 2008 18:28

I was gonna say its some sort of eagle...glad I asked Pritam instead of posting what I thought it was haha

Pritam

July 24. 2008 18:29

Oops last post was from me not pritam..dunno how that happened
---

I was gonna say its some sort of eagle...glad I asked Pritam instead of posting what I thought it was haha

shiva

July 30. 2008 17:41

Dick Watling confirms that its a juvenile Accipiter rufitorques

ian