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European Honey-Buzzard | Pernis apivorus
Wespendief | Abejero europeo
The European Honey-Buzzard is a buzzard-like raptor with a pigeon-like head that feeds on the larvae of wasps and bees, which it digs out of the ground. In the region it is above all a migrant: every spring and autumn hundreds of thousands pass through, with the largest streams over Israel, Cap Bon in Tunisia and the Strait of Gibraltar.
Voice
Usually silent on migration. Sometimes a plaintive, whistled pee-eeh or kee-ee-er, higher and more fluid than that of Common Buzzard.
Recording: Mathieu Franzkeit — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
52–59 cm, wingspan 113–135 cm. Resembles a buzzard, but has a small, protruding head on a cuckoo-like neck, a long tail with slightly convex sides and long, narrow hands. Soars on flat or slightly drooping wings, never in a V. The tail shows one broad dark terminal band and two narrower bands near the base; the underwing too has a broad dark trailing edge and a few dark bars. Plumage varies from almost white through barred to uniformly dark brown. The adult male has a grey head and a yellow eye; the female is browner. The juvenile has more, evenly spaced tail bars, dark primaries, a dark eye and a yellow cere.
Confusion species
Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) has a larger head, shorter tail, a clear dark carpal patch and soars with the wings in a shallow V. Crested Honey-Buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus) is larger, with broader hands showing six fingers instead of five, a relatively shorter tail and often a dark throat stripe; it must be considered at Eilat and in the Gulf, and birds with intermediate features occur. A dark European Honey-Buzzard can recall a dark Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) at long range, which shows pale 'landing lights' at the wing base.
Habitat
On migration over ridges, coasts and desert; roosts at night in woods, pine plantations, orchards, oases and date-palm groves, sometimes in large numbers in a single grove. In North Africa it also stops over in Mediterranean oak and cedar forest. On passage it also eats large insects and drinks at fishponds and reservoirs.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the habitats of North Africa and the Middle East.
Range and movements
Passage migrant throughout the region. In the west it crosses the Mediterranean via the Strait of Gibraltar (Jbel Moussa) and via Cap Bon in Tunisia to Sicily; in the east the main stream runs over the Levant: in autumn over northern and central Israel, in spring over Eilat and the Arava, with hundreds of thousands of birds each year. Also over Sinai, the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea mountains; in Arabia along the west coast to Bab-el-Mandeb, scarce elsewhere. Breeds in Europe and western Siberia and winters in West and Central Africa.
- Summer visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Go to Eilat in the first half of May: on good days tens of thousands pass in long lines over the mountains west of the town. In early September they move in large thermals over central Israel, and in late August and September also at Jbel Moussa; at Cap Bon spring passage peaks in May.
Conservation status
Not threatened. Along the flyways shooting, especially in Lebanon and Syria, and netting are the main threats. The concentrations at migration bottlenecks make the species vulnerable there.
Scientific name
Pernis apivorus | (Linnaeus, 1758)
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 as Falco apivorus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Pernis was introduced in 1816 by Cuvier, GLCFD. Pernis goes back to the Greek pernēs, the name Aristotle used for a bird of prey. apivorus is Latin, from apis 'bee' and -vorus 'eating', after its digging out of wasp and bee nests. The specimen the first description was based on came from Sweden.