ID needed! Pale form Buzzard? (1 Viewer)

[Lee Fairclough]

Dead raptor found at Gordano services nr. Bristol, UK.

I think it's maybe a pale form common buzzard, but I'm not very confident making that ID as I've never actually seen a pale form buzzard in the feathers.

It was found by a friend who sent me the pictures, so these are all we have to go on.

Cheers,

Lee.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello Lee,

welcome to Birdforum!
Yes, the sad bird is a pale Common Buzzard. Similar rarer Rough-legged and Long-legged Buzzards are excluded by uniform distinct barring to the tail and lack of a broad black carpal patch (only a narrow comma shaped bar there).

And yes, I take location into account. There are many helpful threads Herr Witz Buzzards from allover the world Witz expert comments about the difficult ID. Thanks for that from me!

 

[Lee Fairclough]

Hello Lee,

welcome to Birdforum!
Yes, the sad bird is a pale Common Buzzard. Similar rarer Rough-legged and Long-legged Buzzards are excluded by uniform distinct barring to the tail and lack oft a broad black carpal patch (only a Barrow comma shaped bar there)

Thank you, Alexander, very much appreciated. It was the lack of any broader bands on the tail that made me think common not rough-legged. But I had no idea that some were this pale. I'd seen some brown-form birds with rather pale fronts, but nothing like this pale overall. Such a pretty bird.