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***Red Kite? (Possible Long-legged Buzzard in UK) (1 Viewer)

I really can't see this as a Red-tail X Common Buzzard hybrid. Red-tails have a very distinctive wing shape, with a significant secondary bulge and a narrow, long fingered hand. Common Buzzards also tend to have a more pronounced secondary bulge than this bird shows. It has a really long, parralel-sided wing, which in my eyes is a much better fit for Long-legged or Rough-legged.

There is a hint of dark on the leading edge of the wing in one of the photos, but it is very weak. Any combination of Red-tail X Common would surely show more dark patterning on the underwing coverts, particularly in the patagials. The combination of pale head / unpatterned breast and blackish flank patches also seems like an unlikely combination for Red-tail X Common.

Granted, hybrids can occasionally throw up strange features that don't arise in either parent. But this bird is such a good fit for Long-legged, it's uncanny....

To me, it looks outside of the range of Common Buzzard (even vulpinus) in both plumage and structure. It really is a very bulky and long-wined individual. Escaped Upland Buzzard is hard to eliminate, although web pics suggest to me that it's a more short / broad winged species.

I'm sure these pics won't be good enough to add the species to the British List, but it's an extremely interesting bird. If nothing else, it serves as another example of how quick we can be to write off unusual birds as "funny individuals" of commoner species, even with the benefit of digital photos...
 
Here's an id article about the two species (Long-legged and Upland) co-authored by him:

http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/forktail/17pdfs/Naoroji-Buzzard.pdf

That's handy!
Seems to me that most of the features listed in Table 1 fit Long-legged better than Upland for this bird. Egs - very plain tail, pale head, lack of pectoral band, dark central belly, plain lesser underwing coverts, wings not particularly broad (just long).

And how many Upland buzzards are imported into Europe? I'm guessing not many...

Anyway, it's all pie in the sky. I wouldn't say it was conclusively a Long-legged, but I reckon it's a good shout.
 
Seems to me that most of the features listed in Table 1 fit Long-legged better than Upland for this bird. Egs - very plain tail, pale head, lack of pectoral band, dark central belly, plain lesser underwing coverts, wings not particularly broad (just long).

And how many Upland buzzards are imported into Europe? I'm guessing not many...

Anyway, it's all pie in the sky. I wouldn't say it was conclusively a Long-legged, but I reckon it's a good shout.

certainly is a good shout 'roy and as you say fits LLB rather than UB which is a very bulky buteo indeed with more eagle-like like proportions than CB/LLB. And an Upland would dwarf a cirtensis LLB and appear pretty much bigger than a rufinus - they are big birds (and quite eagle-like with long tails). I think this would perhaps have been evident in the field.

in early June too, wasn't it?

Tim
 
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There isn't any description of the unusual common buzzard in Hunts at the same time (that I'm aware of - nobody i know ever made one), but I did see it myself many times. While i obviously can't say that it was definately this bird, it does look a lot like it - notably pale underneath, reddish tail etc. I did wonder at the time if it was a second generation (or more) hybrid with a red-tail, as I was aware of the mixed pair (in another part of the county). But in the end I satisfied myself that it was probably (and more likely) an aberrant common buzzard. It just seems an amazing coincidence that the bird in this thread was seen over Huntingdon, virtually next door to this birds' territory.
 
There isn't any description of the unusual common buzzard in Hunts at the same time (that I'm aware of - nobody i know ever made one), but I did see it myself many times. While i obviously can't say that it was definately this bird, it does look a lot like it - notably pale underneath, reddish tail etc. I did wonder at the time if it was a second generation (or more) hybrid with a red-tail, as I was aware of the mixed pair (in another part of the county). But in the end I satisfied myself that it was probably (and more likely) an aberrant common buzzard. It just seems an amazing coincidence that the bird in this thread was seen over Huntingdon, virtually next door to this birds' territory.

I need to check the Cambs Bird Reports when I get home, but I don't recall a long-staying rufous Common Buzzard in the Huntingdon area (and I used to write the raptors section!). There have been occasional sightings reported of rufous birds (and I have seen one at Grafham Water in Sept 2006).

There was a mixed pairing of Red-tailed Hawk and Common Buzzard in south Cambs (c.15 miles from Huntingdon) several years ago, and they raised and fledged several young (which haven't been reported since).
 
this googled from Cambirds, Feb 2005:

Noticed a Buzzard-like bird feeding in a field near
the Keeper's Cottage at Elton this morning and as it
flew up to a tree it showed a very plain rufous tail.
I guess this could well be a Red-tailed Hawk although
I have no experience of the species. I didn't think
the red was very intense.

Marklhawkes: the Sawtry bird was seen all the time by keepers around there. The ornithologists at Monks Wood probably knew of it too, as the nest was only a few km away. I saw it over several years in the Sawtry area.
 
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Fascinating thread. Agree with others that it looks very promising for a 2cy Long-legged Buzzard. I can't see any anomalies from the photos and the structure, with long wings and protruding head look fine to me. If one saw this bird in south-east Europe it would go straight into the book as a LLB, but it's quite right to be cautious in a UK context. Having said that, there have been a number of accepted records of Long-legged Buzzard in Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark and Norway) in recent years. And if Black-eared Kite and Short-toed Eagle can cross the North Sea then surely a LLB could too.
 
Having said that, there have been a number of accepted records of Long-legged Buzzard in Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark and Norway) in recent years.

There are also seven accepted LLBs from Finland since 2002, all of which have been 2nd c.y. birds (except one that was aged 2nd-3rd c.y.). Here are three of them:

http://www.tarsiger.com/gallery/index.php?pic_id=komi1124987748&lang=eng
http://www.tarsiger.com/gallery/index.php?pic_id=muu1121945510&lang=eng
http://www.tarsiger.com/gallery/index.php?pic_id=SL1090446398&lang=eng
 
I was contacted by "Ghostly Vision" today and decided to hunt the pics out and put them back up. These are 100% crops from the originals and now with some more knowledge than 4 years ago I do think this is a Rough-Legged Buzzard do to the dark patches under the wings, and from reference photos in my books.

Terry,

A Rough-legged Buzzard in June in southern England would be exceptional. Almost all British records occur between mid-October and early-April. The last accepted record of RLB in Cambs was in March 2000 (Grafham Water)
 
There are also seven accepted LLBs from Finland since 2002, all of which have been 2nd c.y. birds (except one that was aged 2nd-3rd c.y.)

From the 'field guide to the rare birds' recorded in western europe in recent times also (up to 1992 admittedly)

W Germany 14,
Denmark 4,
France apr-june 1972 and july 1979
Spain 4, may-aug
 
To confirm the date I took these, below is the EXIF info from one of the pics, as you can see they weretaken on 15/6/2003 at 12:08.

To add info to this thread there is a Raptor Foundation Centre about 5 miles from me, could this bird have come from there, either escaped or been released?.

[Image]
Make = Canon
Model = Canon EOS D60
Orientation = top/left
X Resolution = 180
Y Resolution = 180
Resolution Unit = inch
Date Time = 2003-06-15 12:08:50
YCbCr Positioning = centered
Exif IFD Pointer = Offset: 196

[Camera]
Exposure Time = 1/1000"
F Number = F11
ISO Speed Ratings = 200
Exif Version = Version 2.2
Date Time Original = 2003-06-15 12:08:50
Date Time Digitized = 2003-06-15 12:08:50
Components Configuration = YCbcr
Compressed Bits Per Pixel = 3
Shutter Speed Value = 9.97 TV
Aperture Value = 6.92 AV
Exposure Bias Value = ±0EV
Max Aperture Value = F5.6
Metering Mode = Partial
Flash = Off
Focal Length = 300mm

Terry
 
Just out of interest, is anything actually documented regarding red tailed and common buzzards hybridizing in the UK?
 
Just out of interest, is anything actually documented regarding red tailed and common buzzards hybridizing in the UK?

As I mentioned in previous posts. In Cambs in 2003 a female Buzzard paired with a male Red-tailed Hawk, raising 2 hybrid young (See Cambs Bird Report 77: pg. 46 & 138)
 
At risk of flogging a dead horse, did anything ever come to light on this bird, or has any light been shed on Red-tailed Hawk/Buzzard hybrid offspring? Seems a shame to just let it go when to my eyes it appears to be a perfectly good LL Buzzard

Jan
 
From the 'field guide to the rare birds' recorded in western europe in recent times also (up to 1992 admittedly)

W Germany 14,
Denmark 4,
France apr-june 1972 and july 1979
Spain 4, may-aug

Of real significance to potential vagrants in Britain, there have also been 2 or 3 in the Netherlands, for example this one in 2000: http://www.xs4all.nl/~jnvdlaan/rufinus.htm

Also I believe they regularly over-winter in South France

Jan
 
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