Honey & Grey-faced Buzzard Migration Central Japan? (1 Viewer)

[MacNara]

I saw these two birds today at my usual local spot in Nara City Japan. They pretty high up, and circling a thermal on a hot bright dry day here today, and eventually they got so high I couldn't see them any more. Photos with my 300mm zoom.

I think the big one is an Oriental Honey Buzzard and the smaller one is a Grey-faced Buzzard. But I have very very limited experience of these species, and also they seem to vary a lot.

The Japan Hawk Migration Watch started yesterday, and this spot is not far off the route, so some do come over - but we usually don't see them because they are so high up (the migration watch people go to the top of mountains and use higher-powered equipment than I have).

Unfortunately no-one knowledgeable or with powerful gear was around today.

Although I've seen these species before, both would be a first for me in this spot. However, I'm often wrong about raptors, so I'd be really grateful is someone could point me to the correct ID. Thanks.

 

[gandytron]

Grey-faced Buzzard - yes

Oriental Honey Buzzard - yes, but not sure on age /sex - the orange belly/dark head combo is not one I'm familiar with.

 

[MacNara]

Oriental Honey Buzzard - yes, but not sure on age /sex - the orange belly/dark head combo is not one I'm familiar with.

Despite being in the 'orient' for a long time, I've very rarely seen these birds myself. But I was sure I'd seen this pattern recently on Bird Forum. But surprisingly, there are not many pictures on the Opus photo link for this species. There is a photo of the dark head in a couple of my Japanese books, but neither show similar birds flying.

Thank you for answering.

 

[tconzemi]

Hi, quite astonished that this OHB shows such strong carpal patches, in western populations this is a clear sign of hybridization with EHB, but obviously this seems not to be true for eastern (and south-eastern?) subspecies? Any comment would be welcome