Buteo, Tibet (1 Viewer)

[AntonBE]

Hi all!

In August 2011 I saw this Buteo somewhere near Namtso Lake. I initially identified it as Golden Eagle, which retroactively is of course incorrect looking at plumage, structure, amount of fingers etc. It seems to be a Buteo instead: Upland Buzzard would be the expected species in this location I believe, but I don't quite know how to exclude a dark morph Long-legged Buzzard (or even Steppe/Himalayan Buzzard) based on this picture alone, which is unfortunately the only picture I have.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Butty]

...Golden Eagle, which retroactively is of course incorrect looking at plumage, structure, amount of fingers etc.

Is it?! It looks just like one to me. Very immature, maybe full juv.

 

[lou salomon]

looks very bulky. upland buzzard for me. not sure about this trait but i think a dark LLB wouldn't show this much paleness on primary bases, dorsally.

 

[Butty]

Dark tail-band too narrow for golden eagle? But upland buzzard seems to have no white (ever??) on upperside of secondaries

 

[AntonBE]

This bird only has five fingers, I'd think that should be enough to rule out Golden eagle?

Either way, thanks for the replies so far! I'm not sure how to judge the upper side of the secondaries well, isn't that more greyish than white? A very similar wing pattern to my bird can be seen here, for example: https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/206044271

 

[Butty]

I find finger-counting a pretty equivocal business. That Macaulay bird could indeed - plausibly - be yours. It seems that field guides just don't do upland buzzard adequately.

 

[birdmeister]

I have next to zero experience with Eurasian Buteos, but just wanted to say that this is definitely not a Golden Eagle to me. Wing, tail shape, etc. look perfect for a Buteo. Sorry I can't help with the ID more.

 

[AntonBE]

I find finger-counting a pretty equivocal business. That Macaulay bird could indeed - plausibly - be yours. It seems that field guides just don't do upland buzzard adequately.

Fair enough, and you're definitely right in the last point!

Still definitely looking for someone that knows how to definitely exclude Long-legged and Himalayan buzzard from Upland - I thought the answer could be in the tail band (but dark Long-legged can have that), or indeed the amount of white/grey in the primaries, but I've also found some other fairly similar dark morph Long-leggeds with similar wings as my bird... Any other suggestions or tips welcome!

 

[lou salomon]

only if you saw its legs: partly feathered in Upland, naked in LLB and Himalayan. and if you saw it together with a Himalayan and it would appear like 1,5 x of the size of Himalayan