request id Bird of Prey - Egypt (1 Viewer)

[Mike Earp]

Hmmmm... Long-legged in Egypt should be cirtensis, even closer to Common; I start to doubt

eBird and other sources (e.g. H&M4) suggest cirtensis is restricted to north-west Africa so birds east of there ought to be of the nominate subspecies.

 

[MJB]

I don't understand the part with the unfeathered legs (tarsi) as both But but and But ruf don't have feathered ones.

There's enough difference in the appearance of feathering at the top of the legs between But but and But ruf for the latter to acquire the nickname of 'Short-trousered Buzzard', at least for birds in Hungary recorded by UK birders!
MJB

 

[MJB]

eBird and other sources (e.g. H&M4) suggest cirtensis is restricted to north-west Africa so birds east of there ought to be of the nominate subspecies.

IOC 14.1 (and earlier versions) cite "Mauritania to Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula". However, the recasting of IUCN maps is probably a long way from coping with the transfer of cirtensis from Buteo rufinus 'ownership' to it being considered an allospecies of B. buteo, and so it is likely that there will be further refinements of the distributions of the various populations, but that may require further fieldwork.
MJB

 

[Mike Earp]

IOC 14.1 (and earlier versions) cite "Mauritania to Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula". However, the recasting of IUCN maps is probably a long way from coping with the transfer of cirtensis from Buteo rufinus 'ownership' to it being considered an allospecies of B. buteo, and so it is likely that there will be further refinements of the distributions of the various populations, but that may require further fieldwork.
MJB

Note that Shirihai (1996, The Birds of Israel, page 113) says:

Some breeders, chiefly in Negev, somewhat approach the African form B. r. cirtensis (Levaillant, c. 1849) in coloration and measurements, but whole population still nearer nominate rufinus; it is preferable to include all under latter as did Cramp & Simmons (1980), and contra Meinertzhagen (1920) and Hardy (1946a) and also (for Sinai) Goodman & Meininger (1989), who refer to cirtensis as breeding in those areas.

 

[lou salomon]

There's enough difference in the appearance of feathering at the top of the legs between But but and But ruf for the latter to acquire the nickname of 'Short-trousered Buzzard', at least for birds in Hungary recorded by UK birders!
MJB

"feathered legs" are feathered tarsi like in RLB or Upland Buzzard in my understanding. Tarsi in LLB slightly longer, yes, but not substantial.

 

[Muppit17]

eBird and other sources (e.g. H&M4) suggest cirtensis is restricted to north-west Africa so birds east of there ought to be of the nominate subspecies.

I think part of the issue is the lack of recorders east of the Atlas. I have only seen cirtensis in Tunisia & Morocco. Certainly in all my birding in Egypt, Israel & the Arabian Peninsular I have only seen 'nominate' LLB.

However, I would guess that there is no reason why cirtensis is not present in Libya. However, there are very few submissions from the area to the West of the Nile valley (cf 10 checklists in total from Libya this year!)