Buteo - Thailand, January (1 Viewer)

[Indobirder]

Seen on January 3, 2024 at Mae Fa Luang Arboretum, Chiang Rai, Thailand.

Possibly 2 individuals.

I realize these images may not be enough to identify these birds and that the taxonomy is not clear. I do have more photos though nothing majorly different.

196-201 are 1 bird I believe
306/307 - was seen a bit later

Would they be Eastern Buzzard thanks to light head, belly band, and light barring on tail?

Thank you

 

[MacNara]

Assuming the Buzzard splits make sense, isn't that the only possibility in Thailand?

Anyway, your birds look like the birds we most commonly see in central Japan: see photo one below from this morning.

But there are also sometimes very dark birds: see 2, 3, 4, 5 (all same bird); and very light birds : see 6 and 7 (same bird); all from within 3km of each other; and 8 a light bird from nearby.

I have no idea about or opinion about these colour differences. But the dark bird was so obvious at over 110m that I followed and tracked it down thinking it must be something else.

 

[Harrybongo]

Hi. I've searched images online, and pics 201/200 look pretty good for a Buteo japonicus- streaking on the breast looks good, no barring to the tail and, cream/white feathered legs also look pretty good too?

 

[Indobirder]

Assuming the Buzzard splits make sense, isn't that the only possibility in Thailand?

According to the Lynx Guide for Thailand there can also be Common (Steppe), and Himilayan.

Whether the splits make sense I don't know... The challenge is the variability in each "species'" plumage, and that there are not any structural differences that I can see or pick out.

 

[MacNara]

According to the Lynx Guide for Thailand there can also be Common (Steppe), and Himilayan.

Apologies. Before posting, I checked the three species in 'Birds of the World Online' and the regular distribution maps there don't show Common or Himalayan in Thailand, only Eastern. I didn't look at the E-Bird maps also given on the same page lower down for Himalayan and Common but not strangely Eastern (since Cornell University now owns both) which do seem to show Himalayan and Common in Thailand. It would, of course, be interesting to know on what basis E-Bird validates the three species all in one location, especially as plumage of all is always described as 'variable'. Of course that is way beyond my ability. Maybe someone with more experience will have more to say?

+++ I would draw your attention to this comment from the 'Birds of the World Online' article on Eastern Buzzard:

Limited morphological studies and molecular work have recently suggested that continental and Japanese insular populations [of birds currently identified as Eastern] differ in multiple characters, and that the genetic evidence places the former group with the Himalayan Buzzard (Buteo refectus); if this proposal achieves widespread adoption, it would confer near-endemic status on Buteo japonicus. [BoW]

If Eastern Buzzard is a Japanese endemic, then presumably Buzzards found in Thailand would be Himalayan? In short, the distibution maps, the E-bird maps, and the text for these three species on 'Birds of the World' appear to contradict themselves in various ways.