Buzzard or sparrowhawk

Apologies if this causes everyone to say "Doh, obvious!", but this one is causing arguments in our home. 

  • Looks like a peregrine falcon,but then I am always wrong :)
  • I'm tempted to go with peregrine falcon, its the beard like appearance at the back of the beak that makes me think the same.

    BTW, Bristlebeard, you're more likely to find anyone folk here are friendly and helpful with any query, after all, we all need to ask the question from time to time, and welcome to the forum.

  • My first thought would be juvenile common buzzard as its more likely to come down to ground for prey but the previous answers have me pondering !!
  • Looks like an immature Peregrine.
    Adults have a horizontal barred front, while youngsters tend to have a vertical streaked front
  • Looks like a young Falcon to me most likely a Peregrine
  • Thanks for all the help. I'd welcome any more opinions.
    Photo was taken in a suburb of Glasgow, but we live near a big park. I've def seen both buzzards and Sparrowhawks in our area before. There are also Peregrines a couple of miles away near the Finnieston crane.

    I initially thought female Sparrowhawk, but then there's no eye bar and it looked bigger than a Sparrowhawk. So I'm tempted to say young buzzard. They can show so much variation in colouring. I'm surprised by suggestions of peregrine, since I thought they had darker wings. But I admit the face markings are unusual.
  • I was back at work today and asked a colleague who's a more knowledgeable birder than I. He was quite convinced it was an immature peregrine. Partly cos of the dark cheek patch under eye, but more because of the behaviour of eating on the ground.
  • This was our visitor in our garden the other week. 

    Never seen one around this area before so was a massive shock when we looked out of the window and saw him..AstonishedAstonishedAstonished