Vagrant Long-legged buzzards in Europe

[Sean Cole]

Hello everyone,

I am preparing a piece on the vagrancy potential of Long-legged buzzard in the UK and would like some help please.

I am aware there are a number of records in North-west Europe and wonder if anyone can give me references to find out a complete picture of extralimital birds elsewhere in the last 10-15 years?

All help will be acknowledged.

Thanks

Sean

[frankmeer]

Hi Sean,
For the Netherlands:

http://www.dutchbirding.nl/recent/waarnemingen/recent.php?lang=&first=0&zdate=20050419
http://waarneming.nl/soort.php?id=220&wno_datum_van=10000101&wno_datum_tm=20080307&tab=foto
http://waarneming.nl/soort.php?id=220&wno_datum_van=10000101&wno_datum_tm=20080307&tab=wn
http://www.birdingzeeland.nl/ (Foto's, 2005, 03-10-2005)

[adsandor]

Hi Sean,

I'm currently working on a paper on Ll Buzzards expansion in SE Europe. Thus I collated a reference list, data, etc. Please contact me on my private mail in order to send you the reference list.

Best regards,

Attila D. Sandor

[Brian S]

I feel sure you will all have seen the pictures here on birdforum from 2003. What do you make of them now?

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=5908

Brian S

[Sean Cole]

Hi Brian

It is this thread on Birdforum that has initiated the article I'm preparing.

In my opinion the bird looks very close to a LLB. However, I also think a lot of caution is required before a certain identification is made on this bird - especially given the hybrid possibility and that these are the only five photos of the bird.

I am consulting people who know a lot more than me with reference to the identification.

I will be in Rhodes in May and it will be a good chance to remind myself just how distinctive this species is.

Regards

Sean

[Brian S]

Sean

I agree that caution is required. I see LLB annually in Lesbos and if I saw this there I would ID it as such, but being in the UK a much more careful approach is necessary. The race cirtensis in Morocco and N Africa (seen as extralimital birds in Spain) are a smaller, more Common Buzzard-like beast compared with the more aquiline nominate rufinus.

Have you seen the pics in the photo gallery? http://surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/search2.cgi?species=Long-legged%20Buzzard

Good luck with your investigations.

Brian S

[wintibird]

2006 26 September, Gudo, Southern Switzerland
2006 13 September, Mont-Sagne, Northwestern Switzerland
2004 11 May, Hirzel near Zürich, Northeastern Switzerland
2001 3 September, Gurten near Bern, Western Switzerland
1999 10 October, Col de Jaman, Western Switzerland
1999 4 October, Häusernmoos, Western Switzerland
1999 23 April, Amden, Eastern Switzerland
1996 15 May, Rothrist, Northern Switzerland
1989 20 August, Mont-Sagne, Northwestern Switzerland

more records are from 1985, 1984, 1980, 1958, 1930, 1926, 1905 and 1903. Note the remarkable long time between 1958 and 1980.

Two claims from 2007 were rejected by the Swiss Rarity Comitee.
Greetings from Switzerland

André

[Doom Armadillo]

28.09.1987 Savonlinna 1
11.05.1997 Outokumpu 1
31.05.1997 Southeastern Coast 1
27.05.2002 Joensuu 1
4.7. - 4.8.2004 Southern Coast 1
11.-26.9.2004 Southern Coast 1
20.07.2005 Imatra 1
01. - 22.08.2005 Karjaa 1
04.09.2005 Dragsfjärd 1
14. - 15.9.2006 Hanko 1

Practically all are 2 or 2-3 cy birds.

source (http://birdlife.fi/havainnot/rk/rk-data2.shtml)

[Gerard Gorman]

What I can tell you is that the most northern and western breeding pairs in Europe are in Hungary, east of the Danube. Apart from these 2-4 pairs there is almost always an influx in August and then records drop again as winter approaches. This influx is thought to be birds from the Balkans, ie to the south-east. So the movement into Hungary is in a north-easterly direction.

[birding in amsterdam]

Hi Sean,
For the Netherlands:

http://www.dutchbirding.nl/recent/waarnemingen/recent.php?lang=&first=0&zdate=20050419
http://waarneming.nl/soort.php?id=220&wno_datum_van=10000101&wno_datum_tm=20080307&tab=foto
http://waarneming.nl/soort.php?id=220&wno_datum_van=10000101&wno_datum_tm=20080307&tab=wn
http://www.birdingzeeland.nl/ (Foto's, 2005, 03-10-2005)

Dear Sean,
There were some sightings of long-legged buzzards in the Netherlands, just a couple of days ago. But determination is not certain.

[http://waarneming.nl/soort.php?id=220&tab=wn&wno_cols=datum%3Baantal%3Bplaats%3Bwaarnemer%3Bact ies&wno_id_soort=220&wno_num_regels=20&wno_sorteer=datum%21&wno_filter=1&wno_datum_van=10000101&wno_datum_tm=20080507&wno_id_prov=0

[macrourus]

I've been studing this species since long time and wrote several papers about status, migration and ID, if you need advise and help tell me please.

Any week now and then I get pictures for an ID opinion from elsewhere in Europe (and as far as Far East) ...most of the time these are showing sung-bleached 2nb cy plae plumaged Common/Steppe Buzzards, sometimes they are good rufinus (as many fro Netherlands) ...

the UK bird looks really ok and I can't find any problem with it, hybrid possibility should be launched and consiodered ONLY when some characters are odd and not 100% fitting and convincing...hybrid genes are always possible, chiefly when there are now several mixed pairs in WP of buteoxrufinus, but if there are not strong indication, as I say often, we are not doing DNA birding, and should judge on phenotipical looking, otherwise we speculate phylosofically....

I'm also preparing a long ID paper on the extremely hard race cirtensis, going to North Africa annually to study them, and also Pantelleria island where every spring there are 15-25 cirtensis to carefully check daily.

A short summary of ID you may find in the Ricard Guti?rrez webpage Rare Birds of Spain, written by me as help for the Gybraltar records...

However, in some case, id is far then easy or stright.

In italy is a widely expanding species, now even breeding in some sites. Same is true for most WP countries. With growing records, numbers of birds seen and migrating, and breeding pairs and also breeding range expanding north!

Cheers

Andrea Corso
________
LIVE SEX (http://livesexwebshows.com/)