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Message: <blockquote data-quote="P.Sunesen" data-source="post: 3485347" data-attributes="member: 100020">Thanks Ken for these appreciably better pics.It's now obvious, IMO, that the only feature setting it apart from a dark phase B. buteo buteo is the tail.Dark head and breast, presence of a breast band and the underwing markings are all within the normal variation of the nominate form.The tail, however, is certainly odd, because in a dark adult buteo buteo the subterminal tail band is markedly broader. I would also expect to see much more well defined barring on the rest of the tail.Definitely not a vulpinus, and neither likely to be an eastern bird from the zone of overlap between the mentioned two subsecies formerly acknowledged as intermedius, the most likely conclusion appears to be a buteo buteo with an abberant tail pattern.The theory of a hybrid between an escaped Red-tailed Hawk and a local Common Buzzard seems highly unlikely due to the underwing markings (and indeed everything else but the tail).Peter</blockquote>