Raptors in Southern Sweden (2 Viewers)

[Macswede]

These pictures vary in quality from not too bad to really awful. They were all taken in the south of Sweden yesterday (5/11).

The harriers I was able to identify during my stay in the south were all Hen Harriers but I'm not sure about the one here.

I'm pretty sure I know what the second picture is but I'd like confirmation as I've only seen this species once previously in the field. There were 3 of them and they made the Buzzards in the vicinity look relatively small and were bulky compared to the Red Kites. (This was at Fyledalen one of the best raptor sites in Sweden.)

The final 2 are just in case any of you want to amuse yourselves by ID-ing terrible pictures. I've already received confirmation on both of them.

Very grateful for any input.

Graham

 

[martin kitching]

The first two are Rough-legged Buzzard and Common Buzzard, neither bird is a Harrier (which I think you were suggesting for the first image?) as none of the Harrier species show a dark contrasty carpal patch, something which can be seen in each of the first two images.

cheers
martin

 

[Xenospiza]

1: Rough-legged Buzzard (long wings, dark belly, black tail bar)
2: Common Buzzard (light morph)
3: ?
4: Golden Eagle

Did you think 1) was a harrier? Actually, that's not so strange: Rough-legged Buzzard should give that impression (something many birders do not realise) and it's one of the best field marks to separate Rough-legged and Common!

 

[hannu]

quick look: 1st juv Rough-legged, 2nd perhaps adult female Rough-legged, 3rd ?, 4th juv Golden Eagle

 

[Macswede]

quick look: 1st juv Rough-legged, 2nd perhaps adult female Rough-legged, 3rd ?, 4th juv Golden Eagle

It was indeed the first one that I thought was a harrier, Hannu, Martin and Xenospiza. I never even considered Rough-legged Buzzard. I think the long wings made me think Harrier but it's no wonder it didn't match anything in the books! A nice surprise!

(Xenospiza) Common Buzzard (light morph)
I'm confident the 2nd is a Rough-legged Buzzard, Xenospiza. Had there been one I might have considered an unusually large light morph Common Buzzard but there were three of them, all equally large and with similar colouring and markings.
I'm attaching 2 more shots.

You're all correct about the juvenile Golden Eagle though. Best part of the trip!

Graham

 

[hannu]

I think that latest two pics gives more pale Common Buzzard impression, e.g figures of tail and a dark malar stripe

 

[lou salomon]

hm, this is a common buzzard for me too.

 

[Strandman]

hm, this is a common buzzard for me too.

there's quite strong rufous tinge to tail at least in pic #1 if my monitor is not playing tricks

maybe Common Buzzards from a bit further east than usual

 

[Macswede]

If it was a Common Buzzard it was easily the biggest I've ever seen but I'm starting to see a Common Buzzard in the pictures myself. I suppose the other birds might have been something else.
Final 2 pictures. Is the dark trailing edge to the wings normal for a pale-morph Buzzard? It definitely wasn't an artifact.
Graham

 

[martin kitching]

If it was a Common Buzzard it was easily the biggest I've ever seen but I'm starting to see a Common Buzzard in the pictures myself. I suppose the other birds might have been something else.
Final 2 pictures. Is the dark trailing edge to the wings normal for a pale-morph Buzzard? It definitely wasn't an artifact.
Graham

Hi Graham

Even pale-morph CB still show dark tips to the remiges, forming the dark trailing edge of the wing. RLB, even pale-morph adult female, should have a dark belly. I know on some pale-morph RLB this can be quite restricted but I'm not certain to what extent; maybe someone with experience of lots of pale RLB could comment?

cheers
martin

 

[Macswede]

Thanks to everyone for all the invaluable help. It's been a great learning experience!
It was a somewhat confusing situation. We arrived at the head of the valley and straight away saw an eagle (Golden Eagle was our target bird for the day). I jumped out of the car to fire off a shot but it disappeared over the trees before I had time to identify it. There were a number of raptors left on the scene, Common Buzzards and Red Kites and these three large bulky birds. Two of them followed the eagle over the treetops and this one was left. I assumed they were the same species because they had approximately the same size and structure but they may well not have been.
After that we saw only Red Kites and Common Buzzards, at least until we moved on to Vomb's Meadows and saw birds 3 and 4.

At least I did see a Rough-legged Buzzard even if I thought it was a harrier and the pale-morph CB was a beautiful and impressive bird and something I've never seen before. Seems I still have a great deal to learn but that doesn't come as any great surprise!

Graham

 

[Xenospiza]

I've seen some very weird Common Buzzards this year, including one that was big & pale, seemed to have very little tail barring and looked quite a lot like yours. Even its wings seemed to be shaped differently... However, after taking some deep breaths and considering all the evidence – it was a Common Buzzard. Since it stayed around for the summer, we called it our "Long-legged Buzzard": a similar bird kept birders busy in another part of the country!

 

[StuartReeves]

Pale Common Buzzards are actually quite common in Skåne, so much so that the Swedes have a local name for them (which unfortunately I can't remember!).

Stuart

 

[JANJ]

Pale Common Buzzards are actually quite common in Skåne, so much so that the Swedes have a local name for them (which unfortunately I can't remember!).

Stuart

They are called 'Börringevråk' as in the name of the area where often seen, and as in your images.

JanJ

 

[tarzzz]

I think the pale buzzards are called "Börringevråk"..

//Ben

 

[gerdwichers8]

there's quite strong rufous tinge to tail at least in pic #1 if my monitor is not playing tricks

maybe Common Buzzards from a bit further east than usual

Tails in Buteo's of the subspecies buteo can be of a buffish color, but birds with even a dark orange tail do occur in the region where I live. The tails of the first may be confusing, the tails of the seccond have played on the nerves of many birders in Western Europe. Still these birds may be well in the buteo subspecies.
This autumn I even have had a bird with a tail, coloured exactly like vulpinus and though the barring in it, may have been a bit too coarse for the subspecies, still, the tail for the rest looked exactly like vulpinus. The rest of the features on this particular bird comprised of a mixture, that much, that I dont even consider to designate anything in the third taxon. Two birds like these were seen this autumn.
(apart from 2 pure vulpinus on the 16th and 17th of September: 1 ad. with more than 15 matching features on the 16th!)

 

[ebba]

They are called 'Börringevråk' as in the name of the area where often seen, and as in your images.

JanJ

I tried to find a scientific name for this variant since I thought "börringevråk" was too Scanian too be mentioned here

I am sure that I have seen something like Buteo buteo borringensis can't find any references at the moment though. Does it ring a bell or did I dream it?

Yvonne

 

[Macswede]

However, after taking some deep breaths and considering all the evidence – it was a Common Buzzard.

I've seen quite a lot of photos of "Börringevråk", and some of them are really spectacular, but I think the thing that most threw me off was the sheer size. I've seen a lot of size variation in Buzzards but this one just looked so much bigger.

I think "taking a deep breath and considering all the evidence" is good advice though and if I'd looked a little more closely at the illustrations of pale-morph common Buzzards and Rough-legged Buzzards in the books I might not have fallen into this trap. I think I saw what I expected to see to a great extent.

Still think it's a great looking bird though.

Graham

 

[Xenospiza]

Two birds like these were seen this autumn.
(apart from 2 pure vulpinus on the 16th and 17th of September: 1 ad. with more than 15 matching features on the 16th!)

That would be highly surprising – as there are no accepted records of vulpinus in the Netherlands: are you going to submit them?

 

[StuartReeves]

I tried to find a scientific name for this variant since I thought "börringevråk" was too Scanian too be mentioned here

I am sure that I have seen something like Buteo buteo borringensis can't find any references at the moment though. Does it ring a bell or did I dream it?

Yvonne

Hi Yvonne,

I don't think Börringevråk (I knew somebody would know the name!) is a defined subspsecies, its just a chance genetic occurence that these very pale variants of Buteo buteo buteo happen to occur quite frequently in that corner of Skåne. Having been caught out by them more than once myself, I suspect the pale colouration makes them look bigger than the usual dark version, in some lighting conditions anyway. Curioslu, I don't think I've ever seen one at Börringesjön, the site that presumably gives them their name.

Cheers,

Stuart