request id Bird of Prey - Egypt (2 Viewers)

[Earnest lad]

I spotted this bird by the roadside, 15th December 2023, and managed to fire off a few shots. I am very poor with raptors. I imagine it is a Buzzard species, although I am not certain. I understand the Steppe Buzzard is found in this area (Sharm El Sheikh) . To me this bird seems slimmer than a typical Buzzard one might see in the UK. However I could be wrong here. Could this be Steppe Buzzard please? Or maybe something else? Perhaps the photos don't permit conclusive id. I do have quite a few more photographs, but they are all similar. I didnt get a flight shot though.

 

[Harrybongo]

Hi. I think the legs are too long for a Steppe, could be an immature rufous Long-legged buzzard?

 

[Earnest lad]

Hi. I think the legs are too long for a Steppe, could be an immature rufous Long-legged buzzard?

Thank you so much for that helpful suggestion. I am not familiar with that species, so I will look into it and get back to you .

 

[Butty]

this bird seems slimmer than a typical Buzzard one might see in the UK

Mostly colder in the UK - so, mostly, head/body plumage will be ruffled more.

 

[tconzemi]

Juvenile Buzzard, don't think Long-legged, all ok for Steppe

 

[Earnest lad]

Juvenile Buzzard, don't think Long-legged, all ok for Steppe

Thank you.

 

[Earnest lad]

Mostly colder in the UK - so, mostly, head/body plumage will be ruffled more.

Thank you.

 

[Earnest lad]

Thank you for all comments. Notwithstanding the aforementioned points by Butty and tconzemi (as their knowledge and wisdom are respected- in contrast to mine), I found an image online of a putative LL Buzzard that seems to be almost identical to the bird I saw. I have juxtaposed that image with one of mine here. I was wondering if there might be food for thought here please?

 

[tconzemi]

Hmmmm... Long-legged in Egypt should be cirtensis, even closer to Common; I start to doubt

 

[Val35]

Hmmmm... Long-legged in Egypt should be cirtensis, even closer to Common; I start to doubt

Isn't cirtensis now considered as a ssp. of common buzzard ?

 

[tconzemi]

Isn't cirtensis now considered as a ssp. of common buzzard ?

From the Atlantic in Morocco to The Pacific in Japan, Buteo is a mess

 

[lou salomon]

yes, genetically cirtrensis is closer to Common Buzzard. still, both the OB and the one linked in #8 are young birds and they don't look like juv LLB at all, even taking in account the huge variability. Flight shots are badly needed, though, to make a call I think. The few cirtensis that I saw looked quite like nominate LLB, just more compact. I wonder if juv cirtensis can get this dark and red on coverts.

 

[lou salomon]

From the Atlantic in Morocco to The Pacific in Japan, Buteo is a mess

how true!

 

[Earnest lad]

yes, genetically cirtrensis is closer to Common Buzzard. still, both the OB and the one linked in #8 are young birds and they don't look like juv LLB at all, even taking in account the huge variability. Flight shots are badly needed, though, to make a call I think. The few cirtensis that I saw looked quite like nominate LLB, just more compact. I wonder if juv cirtensis can get this dark and red on coverts.

Thank you so much for that helpful input. I feel I must leave this one as uncertain.

 

[smiths]

Thank you for all comments. Notwithstanding the aforementioned points by Butty and tconzemi (as their knowledge and wisdom are respected- in contrast to mine), I found an image online of a putative LL Buzzard that seems to be almost identical to the bird I saw. I have juxtaposed that image with one of mine here. I was wondering if there might be food for thought here please?

Could you add the source for that image on the right please?
Where and when was this bird photographed, and what is the URL to the original picture?

 

[Mike Earp]

Could you add the source for that image on the right please?
Where and when was this bird photographed, and what is the URL to the original picture?

It's online here. Not sure if 20 October 2010 is when photo was taken or when it was uploaded but it seems to have been taken in Kurdistan.

 

[Earnest lad]

Could you add the source for that image on the right please?
Where and when was this bird photographed, and what is the URL to the original picture?

Hello. Sorry : of course:
I found the image at this web page

https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/239161

 

[MJB]

Hmmmm... Long-legged in Egypt should be cirtensis, even closer to Common; I start to doubt

Taxon cirtensis is now an allospecies (Buteo [buteo] cirtensis) of Common Buzzard, though with some rufinus ancestry, which perhaps explains the unfeathered legs (Jowers et al 2029). The distant ancestral population comprised buteo+vulpinus, which later melded with a rufinus ancestral population

CDNA call it 'Atlas Long-legged Buzzard', but perhaps 'North African Buzzard' is better.
MJB

Jowers, MJ, S Sánchez-Ramírez, S Lopes, I Karyakin, V Dombrovski, A, Qninba, T Valkenburg, N Onofre, N Ferrand, P Beja, L, Palma and R Godinho. 2019. Unravelling population processes over the Late Pleistocene driving contemporary genetic divergence in Palearctic Buzzards, Mol. Phyl. Gen. & Evol. doi: Redirecting

 

[lou salomon]

I don't understand the part with the unfeathered legs (tarsi) as both But but and But ruf don't have feathered ones.

 

[Earnest lad]

Taxon cirtensis is now an allospecies (Buteo [buteo] cirtensis) of Common Buzzard, though with some rufinus ancestry, which perhaps explains the unfeathered legs (Jowers et al 2029). The distant ancestral population comprised buteo+vulpinus, which later melded with a rufinus ancestral population

CDNA call it 'Atlas Long-legged Buzzard', but perhaps 'North African Buzzard' is better.
MJB

Jowers, MJ, S Sánchez-Ramírez, S Lopes, I Karyakin, V Dombrovski, A, Qninba, T Valkenburg, N Onofre, N Ferrand, P Beja, L, Palma and R Godinho. 2019. Unravelling population processes over the Late Pleistocene driving contemporary genetic divergence in Palearctic Buzzards, Mol. Phyl. Gen. & Evol. doi: Redirecting

Thank you Perhaps at a (much) later date, there may be an "armchair tick" for me.