Grasshopper Buzzard

Identificazione

The adult grasshopper buzzard is grey brown above with a darker head and dark shaft streaks on all of its feathers. The feathers of the mantle and lesser coverts are narrowly with fringed rufous in fresh plumage, although this wears off. The grey tail has faint brown bars. The greater coverts and primary feathers are light rufous, the primaries are tipped with black, and form a conspicuous reddish patch in flight. The secondary feathers are rufous shading to dark brown towards the tip, which is white. The chin and throat are whitish, with three black streaks on either side of throat. The breast is rufous and has narrow shaft streaks of black, the belly and thighs are also rufous but lack markings. The axillary feathers are greyish brown, spotted with white or buff. The under wing coverts and wing lining are white. The eyes, legs, and cere are yellow. The bill has a black tip and a yellow base. The female is slightly larger than the male. Juveniles have a bright brownish-red head and nape with dark shaft streaks, and as they age, the crown becomes the same colour as the back, the tail acquires bars, and the rufous edges on the mantle and coverts become less distinct. The length of the grasshopper buzzard is 30–35 cm (12–14 in); the wingspan: 90 cm (35 in) and the weight is 310–340 g (11–12 oz) for the males and 300–380 g (11–13 oz) for the females.

Tassonomia

The grasshopper buzzard forms a superspecies with the white-eyed buzzard (Butastur teesa), rufous-winged buzzard (Butastur liventer), and grey-faced buzzard (Butastur indicus) all of which occur in Asia.

Nome scientifico

Butastur rufipennis

Autorità

(Sundevall, 1850)

Ordine

Accipitriformi

Famiglia

Accipitridae

Genere

Butastur

Areale e habitat

Afrotropical. Senegal and Gambia east to Ethiopia, migrating south to Sierra Leone, Cameroon, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and northern Tanzania.<p>The grasshopper buzzard is a partial migrant which moves south in the dry northern winter, i.e. September to March, and north again in summer with the rains, April to September to breed. In general, this species ranges between about 9-15° N when breeding, south to 5° N in the dry season, it only occurs south of the equator in eastern Africa. There is much local and even annual variation in distribution and abundance. Grasshopper buzzards usually frequent woodland and forest edges, and arid acacia savannahs. It also can be found in marshes’ edges and over burnt areas.

Migrazione

Complete migrants

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione

declining