Mountain buzzard
| Mountain buzzard | ||||||||||||
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Mountain Buzzard ( Buteo oreophilus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Buteo oreophilus | ||||||||||||
| Hartert & Neumann , 1914 |
The mountain buzzard ( Buteo oreophilus ) is a member of the real buzzards ( genus Buteo ) from the hawk-like family (Accipitridae). It occurs in mountain forests in eastern Africa .
description
The mountain buzzard is 41 to 48 centimeters long and has a wingspan of 102 to 117 centimeters. The males are almost ten percent smaller than the females. It is smaller than the common buzzard . The wings and tail of the mountain buzzard are narrower and the legs are shorter. The wing tips are in the collapsed state, i.e. when individuals are seated, for example at the tip of the tail. In many other buzzards, the wings end before the tail. The wing beats are soft, the mountain hawk sails with flat, unfolded wings.
The call is a high-pitched, high-pitched "piii-uu".
Adult birds
The adult mountain buzzards of the nominate form B. o. Oreophilus are brown on the upper side, with irregular, light brown end borders on the cover plumage . The head and underside are white and completely drawn with strong brown stripes on the head and thicker dots on the chest. The tail has a light end band , a wide, dark subterminal band and is continuously thin, dark, transversely banded. The feathers on the legs, called trousers, are light brown with darker spots. The iris is brownish.
The subspecies B. o. Trizonatus has wider, light brown seams on the top and usually a wide, white chest band. The tail is light brown and has a light end band, a dark subterminal band and three to four thinner dark transverse bands from the tip. The under tail-coverts are lighter.
Fledglings
The juvenile mountain buzzards of the subspecies B. o. Oreophilus have significantly more light brown borders on the upper side and are more thinly striped on the underside than the adult birds. The iris is yellowish.
The young birds of the subspecies B. o. Trizonatus have less markings than the adults.
Habitat and Distribution
In the east of Africa the mountain buzzard ( B. o. Oreophilus ) lives in mountain forests between 2200 and 3800 meters above sea level, but also occurs at altitudes of 4500 meters. On the south coast of Africa, however, the subspecies B. o. Trizonatus lives in forests and coniferous tree plantations up to an altitude of 1500 meters.
literature
- J. Ferguson-Lees, DA Christie: Raptors of the World. Princeton University Press / Christopher Helm, London 2005. ISBN 0-691-12684-4
Web links
- Buteo oreophilus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2008. Accessed on December 20 of 2008.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Buteo oreophilus in the Internet Bird Collection