From Opus

Photo by Momo
Switzerland

Alternative name: Common Buzzard
Includes Cape Verde Buzzard; (Western) Steppe Buzzard

Buteo buteo

Identification

50-56cm.

• Variable plumage from pale brown to dark brown
• Pale breast band
• Barred tail
• White patch on underside of wing

Distribution

The Common Buzzard has a very wide range, breeding in Europe and Asia and several Atlantic islands.

The species is partly migratory, with some birds wintering as far south as Africa south of the Sahara.

Photo by Knud Olsen
Denmark, September 2009

Taxonomy

About eleven subspecies are currently recognized. Often mentioned is the Steppe Buzzard B. b. vulpinus, an eastern European to northern Asian form in which some members are recognizably different from nominate European birds. No major authorities currently recognize this as a full species, even though reports to the opposite effect can be found on the internet.

Subspecies^[1]

• B. b. buteo:

• Western Palearctic region and Madeira; winters to western Africa

• B. b. arrigonii:

• Corsica and Sardinia

• B. b. rothschildi:

• Azores

• B. b. insularum :

• Canary Islands

• B. b. bannermani:

• Cape Verde Islands

• B. b. vulpinus:

• Northern Palearctic; winters to southern Asia and Africa south of the Sahara

• B. b. menetriesi :

• Southern Crimea and Caucasus to northern Iran

• B. b. japonicus:

• Central Asia to Japan and Tibet; winters India to Japan

• B. b. refectus:

• Himalayas and western China

• B. b. toyoshimai:

• Izu Islands and Bonin Islands

• B. b. oshiroi:

• Daito Islands

Habitat

Forests, scattered woodland and moorland also increasingly urban edges. Likes hilly areas to provide thermals.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes rabbits, rodents, ground birds, reptiles and carrion.

Breeding

Their nest is built from sticks and foliage, sited high up in a tree or on a cliff edge. The 2-3 eggs are incubated by both sexes for 33-36 days; the young fledge about 43-50 days later.

Vocalisation

Call: high-pitched mewing.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.
2. BBC Science and Nature
3. BF Member observations

• List of references

External Links