ID dark chocolate; dark iris? Lunigiana, Italy (1 Viewer)

There were calls, an HB winged north. Ten minutes later a shadow passed over the kitchen terrace, my eyes saw an HB but wings to tail proportions seemed different ... I remembered a lesson from last year ... dark chocolate, dark iris, white-tipped feathers, bulging secondaries ... is this a juvenile Honey buzzard? is that a dark iris? underwing patterning looks like female's, and the tail now seems rather long. It had picked up some greenery. It circled in silence, and flew north.

August 3, mid afternoon

It looks like an adult female HB.

agree.

Agree also. Carrying greenery suggests a nest (although possibly a practice one).
Brian

Phew, thanks, glad this was not a juvenile, it was too casual a visit ... and I enjoy the anticipation.

But I'm really glad to see another female! Almost as beautiful as the one on Brian's latest blog. A practice nest? She does look rather young! - compared to the other two I've seen this summer (I don't know how the impressive female perched on the fence late June fits in amongst the three females I've seen flying, or if she is yet another female).

Morning of 28 July, I saw a dark female come from the east, flying in a straight line towards the house, she circled the area (pic 1). Then a really startlingly white male streaked in, wings bent back, feet down ... it's not the STE juv joining in, is it?! I was aware of only two birds high in the sky, both HB (both silent).

This gives me the chance to ask, what is going on in the white HB's left wing (pic 5)? Are new innermost flight feathers (tertials?) just beginning to grow? I thought it was a deformation in the wing, but now I'm waking up to the subject of moult. My threads are getting crisscrossed.

Kinthissa said:

... dark iris, ...

Click to expand...

Just a general question, given that Honey-buzzards are only ever seen at ranges of not less than 1 km, how is the iris colour observed? :eek!: