Hi! We saw this BoP yesterday in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Our observation at the time was that it wasn’t flying in the same way as the Common Buzzards that we see regularly, and its tail also looked different. I didn’t think much of it until I put the photo in an ID app and it came up as almost certainly a Honey Buzzard?! I managed to get some (not great) stills from some footage I took through my binoculars. I wondered if anyone could let me know who I’ve got here? Apologies for the poor quality photos!
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Bird of prey ID - South Wales (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter hatchnut
- Start date
lou salomon
the birdonist
still a Common Buzzard, heavily moulting and looks 2cy. Might be flying differently due to lacking remiges and overall narrower wings (as it is in juvenile/1st plumage Buteos)
KenM
Well-known member
……that’s no way to talk to a contributor Fat butt!
Thank you - when in doubt I usually assume it’s the more common/likely option, but the app was so unusually certain that it made me wonder. What does 2cy mean please? Is it the feathers towards the tip of the wings that it’s missing?
KenM
Well-known member
A 2nd calendar year bird.👍
lou salomon
the birdonist
yes, those are the inner primaries, that are missing, making for the 'moult gap'.
pianoman
duck and diver, bobolink and weaver
Funnily enough, after looking at all the pics I had concluded that these were actually white marks rather than moult gaps
TheBlackGrouse
Well-known member
Weird one, the proportions on the first picture are close to a Marsh Harrier.
Over the last weeks I've seen hundreds of Buzzards, sometimes they can have the appearance of a Honey Buzzard, Goshawk, Kite, Harrier or even a Short-toed eagle. The tail may look very long or very short, the same applies to the wings. Luckily they always show their 'normal' proportions after a while.
Over the last weeks I've seen hundreds of Buzzards, sometimes they can have the appearance of a Honey Buzzard, Goshawk, Kite, Harrier or even a Short-toed eagle. The tail may look very long or very short, the same applies to the wings. Luckily they always show their 'normal' proportions after a while.
