how to distinguish Oriental Honey-Buzzard from Eurasian Honey-Buzzard? (1 Viewer)

There is an excellent series of photos of an adult honey-buzzard, presumably Oriental, at this link:

http://public.fotki.com/kctsang/birds_of_singapore/oriental_honey-buzz/

The odd thing about this bird is that it shows no hint of a crest. That got me wondering, how does one distinguish Oriental from Eurasian Honey-Buzzard, apart from the presence or absence of a crest and range?

Hi Dave,

I think the best place to start looking for the answer to this is Israel and the Middle East - they get both spp. there.

http://www.keenbirding.com/Artwork/CrestedHB95.html - Fieldnotes.

http://www.ornithomedia.com/pratique/identif/ident_art41_1.htm - how's your French? Translation

http://www.birdingisrael.com/birdNews/newsAlert/redPhalarope/index.htm - photo.

It doesn't look straightforward.

Cheers,

Andy.

try OBC website for some images and then some of the regional field guides for info on OHB.

Raptors has some useful info

there's a lot of mimicry of sympatric hawk eagles goes on and some sub sps hav large crests etc. Doesn't relate strictly to id in western pal. but interesting maybe. I found OHB to be a fascinating species when i lived in Indonesia. Their mimicry of the hawk eagles was remarkable and a big id challenge.

Tim Allwood said:

try OBC website for some images and then some of the regional field guides for info on OHB.

Raptors has some useful info

there's a lot of mimicry of sympatric hawk eagles goes on and some sub sps hav large crests etc. Doesn't relate strictly to id in western pal. but interesting maybe. I found OHB to be a fascinating species when i lived in Indonesia. Their mimicry of the hawk eagles was remarkable and a big id challenge.

Click to expand...

Did you see that article in BB suggesting that juv Honey Buzzard has evolved its plumage to mimic Common Buzzard and in so doing to reduce its vulnerability to Goshawk predation?

It would fit the pattern of honey buzzards mimicing larger raptors bit of course it's hard to demonstrate in a given case. The paper seems to be written on the assumption that Goshawk attack H Buzz from alongside or below, which Nirofo (if he sees this thread) will tell us is not usually the case when they are taking out other raptors.

From Beaman & Madge's Handbook, Oriental vs. European:
Adults: 6 fingers (vs. 5)
Adult male: underside of tail appears dark with one broad pale band across middle (appears pale with one dark terminal bar and a narrow bar near the body), outermost dark bar on underwing excl. trailing edge visible until body (disappears under underwing covers), bars on primaries closer to fingers, no obvious white hand, no dark carpal patch (typical in European), eye dark (vs. pale)
Adult female: tail pattern more like male European; three evely spaced dark bars on underwings, with a fourth on primary tips (vs. two bars with wider gap between trailing edge and first bar, no bar on primary tips), no carpal patch.
Juveniles: difficult, appears larger and bulkier, no carpal patch, dark "gorget" if present is diagnostic.

Oriental is larger and bulkier than European, but that is hard to judge! Each time I see a male Honeybuzzard, I think: how is it possible I have trouble separating these from Buzzards... but somehow I find, even that can still be difficult... luckily, I'm not alone in this!