….

Here’s the bird:

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1. I id’ed it  first, to my spouse and to my friends, as a Shikra
2. I had a doubt that it might be the Peregrine Falcon; agreed. (Now I don't think so as the PF has vertical barring on its chest and this one doesn't.)
3. said it might be a Eurasian Hobby. All this from a not-very good photo I had sent them. At this point, I cropped and enlarged it and re-sent it.
4. Abhijit Menon-Sen said it was a Red-Necked Falcon earlier; after seeing the fresh photo, Yathin and Kalyan agreed.(AMS said the crown and nape were not reddish as it was a juvenile.) 5.I posted the pic to my Naturalists’ group and Karthik says it is a Red headed Merlin.

So all beginning birders…be aware of what you are getting into! I am now calling this (and probably most other birds I see) the Question Mark Bird!