I have posted a note on Steppe Buzzard - Do they summer in Arabia? on my website www.birdsofsaudiarabia.com if you are interested in my findings. Also if you disagree or find any mistakes please let me know. There are additional photographs of the species taken in Saudi Arabia of the bird on the ground on the website.
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Steppe Eagle - Do they summer in Arabia (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Jayefbee
- Start date
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The_Partridge
Well-known member
is this definitely a Buteo and not the rufous end of Black Kite ?
This is definately a Steppe Buzzard., not so easy from a single photo but the link to my website has quite a few others plus flight shots. See additional pictures here and other pictures on my website www.birdsofsaudiarabia.com and http://www.birdsofsaudiarabia.com/2011/06/steppe-buzzard.html
The bird is a second calender year bird due to its pale eye and heavy streaked breast, but it has a well marked trailing edge to the wing similar in nature to that of an adult (which is not that uncommon on 2cy birds but not shown often in the fielf guides).
JFB
The bird is a second calender year bird due to its pale eye and heavy streaked breast, but it has a well marked trailing edge to the wing similar in nature to that of an adult (which is not that uncommon on 2cy birds but not shown often in the fielf guides).
JFB
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The_Partridge
Well-known member
ah, flight shots !
I was trying to think of an alternative as you didn't sound very confident that Steppe Buzzard should even be there, which to me implied it might not be one
it was actually the link through to the other shots on the deck that made me wonder about BK, as the bird looks a lot sleaker in photos 1 and 3. The primaries also look quite long which was leading me toward BK. Not a bird I've seen a lot of, or even taken a great deal of notice of even when presented with them in large numbers
I would actually be interested in seeing one of these rufous BKs from the Arabian peninsula just for comparison's sake
haven't you kind of answered your own question ? if you're sure it's a Steppe Buzzard, and it's midsummer, then some of them do summer in Arabia, no ?
I was trying to think of an alternative as you didn't sound very confident that Steppe Buzzard should even be there, which to me implied it might not be one
it was actually the link through to the other shots on the deck that made me wonder about BK, as the bird looks a lot sleaker in photos 1 and 3. The primaries also look quite long which was leading me toward BK. Not a bird I've seen a lot of, or even taken a great deal of notice of even when presented with them in large numbers
I would actually be interested in seeing one of these rufous BKs from the Arabian peninsula just for comparison's sake
haven't you kind of answered your own question ? if you're sure it's a Steppe Buzzard, and it's midsummer, then some of them do summer in Arabia, no ?
Sorry - maybe the title is misleading. This note (full details at www.birdsofsaudiarabia.com) was a question I asked myself and have since answered after quite a bit of research. The bird in question is a Steppe Buzzard and it was a very late record - hence I asked myself - does it summer in Arabia?
Information I recieved from Israel and other data from Dick Forsman (pers comm.) said it is not unusual for young birds like the one I saw to have a delayed spring migration. This strongly suggests that the bird I saw was a late migrant, probably a bird that has wintered in Saudi Arabia, rather than a bird that may choose to summer or need to summer, due to injury or sickness. It did not look sick or injured in any way, but this remains a possibility due to the late date of the sighting.
Information I recieved from Israel and other data from Dick Forsman (pers comm.) said it is not unusual for young birds like the one I saw to have a delayed spring migration. This strongly suggests that the bird I saw was a late migrant, probably a bird that has wintered in Saudi Arabia, rather than a bird that may choose to summer or need to summer, due to injury or sickness. It did not look sick or injured in any way, but this remains a possibility due to the late date of the sighting.
