Crested serpent eagle or Oriental honey buzzard? (1 Viewer)

[abdrahmankazim]

Greetings, all.

I'm a student from Malaysia and am new to the ornithological field. Recently, I've received some parasite samples from a vet who's working on exotic animals. The vet said that the identity of the host, of which the parasites were isolated from, was the crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela). Unfortunately, the vet did not provide any photos to prove whether it was truly a crested serpent eagle, so I had to contact the owner (with permission) if he can provide any photos of the eagle. Upon reviewing the photos that the owner gave me, the eagle in question did not not look like a crested serpent eagle but more like the Oriental honey buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus). But this is due to my extremely limited knowledge of bird identification, as I just compared both species based off the images in the Internet.

That said, I would very much appreciate if you could give your opinions on the species of the bird. Attached in this thread are the photos that the owner gave me.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Dimitris]

Honey Buzzard...A Crested Serpent Eagle would have ripped their face off.

Seriously- now a Crested Serpent Eagle would be more robust, with well marked plumage and yellow facial skin.

 

[abdrahmankazim]

Hi, Dimitris!

Thanks for the help. Yes, I thought it was a honey buzzard too because there's no yellow colour on the mouth, which is usually seen in the crested serpent eagle.

Regards.

 

[Joern Lehmhus]

agree, oriental honey bussard

 

[abdrahmankazim]

Thank you for the confirmation, Joern. Sorry for the late reply.

Regards.