• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

‘Gibraltar buzzard’ (1 Viewer)

Acrocephalus

Well-known member
Morocco
Not really a published work yet, but worth looking at. See Dick Forsman’s website. He mentioned also that a paper by Javier Elorriaga and his colleagues on the identification of ‘Gibraltar buzzard’ and the Atlas Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus cirtensis is on its way.
 
Fascinating. Never saw that one coming (I checked the date to make sure this wasn't an April fool joke). Will be interesting to read more. I'm intrigued that the putative ancestral parental lines are Atlas Long-legged and Steppe Buzzards. The former seems logical, but is Steppe not an eastern species rarely venturing to the Straits? Just off the top of my head - probably completely wrong.

Ken
 
Hybridisation in the Strait of Gibraltar

Elorriaga J. & Muñoz A.-R. 2013. Hybridisation between the Common Buzzard Buteo buteo buteo and the North African race of Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus cirtensis in the Strait of Gibraltar: prelude or preclude to colonisation? Ostrich 84 (1): 41-45.
abstract
 
Atlas Long-legged Buzzard

...a paper by Javier Elorriaga and his colleagues on the identification of ‘Gibraltar buzzard’ and the Atlas Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus cirtensis is on its way.
Rodriguez, Elorriaga & Ramirez 2013. Identification of Atlas Long-legged Buzzard and its status in Europe. Birding World 26(4): 147–173.

Includes 71 colour photos. As Mohamed indicated, also addresses identification of 'Gibraltar Buzzard' Buteo rufinus cirtensis x b buteo.
 
Richard Klim said:
Rodriguez, Elorriaga & Ramirez 2013. Identification of Atlas Long-legged Buzzard and its status in Europe. Birding World 26(4): 147–173.

Includes 71 colour photos. As Mohamed indicated, also addresses identification of 'Gibraltar Buzzard' Buteo rufinus cirtensis x b buteo.

Is this issue of BW available now?
 
Is this issue of BW available now?
Yes, I received my copy by post yesterday. Also...
A complimentary [sic] article, 'Long-legged Buzzards in Europe: Britain next?', covering the breeding population in Europe and the increasing vagrancy to north and west Europe will be published in Birding World soon. Eds.
 
Last edited:
Rodriguez, Elorriaga & Ramirez 2013. Identification of Atlas Long-legged Buzzard and its status in Europe. Birding World 26(4): 147–173.

Includes 71 colour photos. As Mohamed indicated, also addresses identification of 'Gibraltar Buzzard' Buteo rufinus cirtensis x b buteo.

Here is an English summary of this article which is based on the Spanish summary published by Reservoir Birds, 'Gibraltar buzzard': sobre los Ratoneros Moros del Estrecho (PDF with photographs).
 
Thanks Mohamed! One comment; here in the southern Portugal - especially in the Baixo Alentejo we have a fair number of apparently impossible to identify Buteos - presumably the contact zone described in the article reaches further than the area shown.
 
Elorriaga J. & Muñoz A.-R. 2013. Hybridisation between the Common Buzzard Buteo buteo buteo and the North African race of Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus cirtensis in the Strait of Gibraltar: prelude or preclude to colonisation? Ostrich 84 (1): 41-45.
abstract
I didn't know buzzards nested at sea :-O


(sorry, couldn't resist!)
 
Atlas Long-legged Buzzard in Europe

Chamorro, D., Olivero, J., Real, R. & Muñoz, A.-R. (accepted). Environmental factors determining the establishment of the African Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus cirtensis in Western Europe. Ibis doi:10.1111/ibi.12451 (abstract)
 
Simply a warning note: sure some birds are hybrid, as myself has proven even before the quoted articles (see my paper in Dutch Birding) ...Indeed, I have followed the adult birds breeding, one a typical buteo and one a typical cirtensis, all the way till the juvenile fledged.

https://www.researchgate.net/public...zzard_on_Pantelleria_Italy_in_2008?ev=prf_pub


However, several photos around, even in the last Forsmann great book, should be proven as being hybrids or the so called "Gibraltar Buzzard", as they simply could be normal juv grey-brown cirtensis to my eye (or would need DNA to be proven). Indeed, cirtensis normally have a least (or even an unknown) grey-brown morph too often mystaken as hybrid or "Gibraltar Buzzard".

http://birdingfrontiers.com/2012/12/12/how-many-morphs-do-we-know-for-atlas-long-legged-buzzard/

Since very long time I have a paper in progress, about Atlas Long-legged Buzzard identification, variability and morphs, together also with one about the "hybrids and hybridisation" Crested/Oriental Honey Buzzard with Honey Buzzard that will report several new stuff and interesting material... Unfortunately, working to too many projects and papers (now also on Odonata and Carabus!) I am way behind. Silly behaviour (one should first finish something and then going ahead instead of caothically work with too many things altogether!)

The fact is that in museums, there are skins of SURE cirtensis, mostly juveniles, from southern breeding areas and/or from Tunisia, Lybia and Algeria (so NOT from Morocco only) collected in the '800 and early '900 exactly looking alike "Gibraltar Buzzard "... and that would prove extremely hard to be distinguished in the field from this kind of hybrids, leading to an over-exstimation of hybrids around North Africa and even Spain, Portugal or Sicily.

Also, during my numerous field trips to North Africa, I have seen cirtensis with this plumage (or if you like morph) in the southern areas of cirtensi breeding range ...therefore not only from North Morocco as the mentioned papers and handbook seems to imply.

Then, I think (or suppose) there is still much to discuss about...
 
Warning! This thread is more than 5 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top