Long-legged Buzzard

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Long-legged Buzzard

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Falconiformes
Family:	Accipitridae
Genus:	Buteo
Species:	B. rufinus

Binomial name

Buteo rufinus
(Cretzschmar, 1829)

Light Green shows breeding range, blue shows winter range, dark green is permanent range.

The Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) prefers the dry open plains of Turkey, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary and feeds mostly on small rodents, although it will also take lizards, snakes, small birds and large insects.

It is similar in appearance to the Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus), but larger in size (approximate length 60-65cm / 24") and more robust. There are many different colour forms, but usually Long-leggeds have clear orange tint to plumage, red or orange tail, pale head and largely white underwings. There is usually a distinctive black carpal patch and dark trailing edge to wing. Rump and trousers are often dark or deep rufous. Plumage varies from ghostly pale individuals to very dark birds. Some plumages are almost similar to those of the Steppe Buzzard, the Eastern subspecies of the Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo vulpinus), but Long-legged Buzzards have longer wings and are more like Rough-Legged buzzards or even a small Aquila eagle.

Open, uncultivated areas, with high bushes, trees, cliffs or hillocks are favoured as nesting areas. Younger birds disperse north of breeding grounds and there are records from Northern Europe.

The breeding population in Greece is ca. 60 pairs. Recent sightings would seem to indicate that there is a small population in the Apulian region of south-eastern Italy.

[edit] References

BirdLife International (2004). Buteo rufinus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern