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Buzzard id staffs /cheshire border (1 Viewer)

Bananafishbones

Incoherently Rambling .....
United Kingdom
I saw this buzzard today and it didnt look right, immediatly confused by the long straight tail, I wasnt convinced when it went out of site but presumed it cant have been anything else but common

Could it be a honey Buzzard?
sorry about poor quality

Cheers
Dave
 

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Dave

Did you see it soaring at all?
Honey's tend to soar on straight wings as opposed to the Commons that use some dihedral.
Given what you've offered so far I'd have to stake my claim in the Common camp too.
 
I was underneath it for a short time and the 3 things that immediatly set some confusion were:

Very white under the chin, around the throat area at first it looked like the whole head was white, the very long thin tail (pic 2 shows this best, but of corse could just be the angle) but when above the tail looked almost Sparrowhawk ish, and the wing structure seemed a little narrower than a common.
Dave
Michail, what is B.vulpinus please, and also to second stoggler what are dihedral?

Cheers for comments everyone
 
It's just a Common Buzzard.

The use of wing posture on soaring birds (the dihedral "vee") must be used with great care. Common Buzzards will soar on flat wings. Much better to note shape of wings, tail, proportions and plumage details.

In reality, Marsh Harrier can be a more likely a confussion species than Common Buzzard when confronted with a possible Honey Buzzard
 
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a good thing to note when you're under a common buzzard is the pale "underwiring" on the breast.
I agree with Mark, Marsh Harrier is more reminiscent of Honey Buzzard in many respects - a Honey Buzzard often seems lazy in flight with more bulging wings when soaring, notieceably jointed wings (like a kite) when flying and has a longer tail.

With good views, a honey buzzard is incredibly different to a common.
 
Surfbirds scarce birds gallery currently has a rather embarassingly mis-IDed common buzzard in essex down as a honey, complete with "just to show it was there" caption.
 
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