Editing Common buzzard (section)

==Description==
[[File:Buteo buteo 2 (Marek Szczepanek).jpg|thumb|left|A dark individual from Europe]]
The common buzzard is a medium to large sized raptor that is highly variable in plumage. Most buzzards are distinctly round headed with a somewhat slender bill, relatively long wings that either reach or fall slightly short of the tail tip when perched, a fairly short tail, and somewhat short and mainly bare tarsi. They can appear fairly compact in overall appearance but may also appear large relative to other more common raptorial birds such as [[Eurasian kestrel|kestrels]] and [[Eurasian sparrowhawk|sparrowhawk]]s.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Forsman>Forsman, D. (1999). ''The raptors of Europe and the Middle East: a handbook of field identification''. London: T & AD Poyser.</ref> The common buzzard measures between {{cvt|40|and|58|cm}} in length with a {{cvt|109|-|140|cm|0}} wingspan.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/> Females average about 2–7% larger than males linearly and weigh about 15% more. Body mass can show considerable variation. Buzzards from [[Great Britain]] alone can vary from {{cvt|427|to|1183|g|lb}} in males, while females there can range from {{cvt|486|to|1370|g|lb}}.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name=CRC>{{cite book |title=CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses |editor-first=John B. Jr. |editor-last=Dunning |publisher=CRC Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-8493-4258-5}}</ref><ref name= delHoyo>{{cite book |editor-last = del Hoyo |editor-first = J. |editor2-last = Elliott |editor2-first = A. | editor3-last = Sargatal |editor3-first = J. |year = 1999 |title = Handbook of the Birds of the World |volume = 2 |publisher = Lynx Edicions |location = Barcelona |isbn = 978-84-87334-15-3|title-link = Handbook of the Birds of the World }}</ref>
[[File:Buteo buteo 4 (Marek Szczepanek).jpg|thumb|right|A pale individual in Europe]]
In Europe, most typical buzzards are dark brown above and on the upperside of the head and mantle, but can become paler and warmer brown with worn plumage. The flight feathers on perched European buzzards are always brown in the nominate subspecies (''B. b. buteo''). Usually the tail will usually be narrowly barred grey-brown and dark brown with a pale tip and a broad dark subterminal band but the tail in palest birds can show a varying amount a white and reduced subterminal band or even appear almost all white. In European buzzards, the underside coloring can be variable but most typically show a brown-streaked white throat with a somewhat darker chest. A pale U across breast is often present; followed by a pale line running down the belly which separates the dark areas on breast-side and flanks. These pale areas tend to have highly variable markings that tend to form irregular bars. Juvenile buzzards are quite similar to adult in the nominate race, being best told apart by having a paler eye, a narrower subterminal band on the tail and underside markings that appear as streaks rather than bars. Furthermore, juveniles may show variable creamy to rufous fringes to upperwing coverts but these also may not be present. Seen from below in flight, buzzards in Europe typically have a dark trailing edge to the wings. If seen from above, one of the best marks is their broad dark subterminal tail band. Flight feathers of typical European buzzards are largely greyish, the aforementioned dark wing linings at front with contrasting paler band along the median coverts. In flight, paler individuals tend to show dark carpal patches that can appears as blackish arches or commas but these may be indistinct in darker individuals or can appear light brownish or faded in paler individuals. Juvenile nominate buzzards are best told apart from adults in flight by the lack of a distinct subterminal band (instead showing fairly even barring throughout) and below by having less sharp and brownish rather than blackish trailing wing edge. Juvenile buzzards show streaking paler parts of under wing and body showing rather than barring as do adults.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Forsman/><ref name= Clark2>Clark, W. S. (1999). ''A field guide to the raptors of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa''. Oxford University Press, USA.</ref><ref name= Porter>Porter, R. F. (1981). ''Flight identification of European raptors''. A&C Black.</ref> Beyond the typical mid-range brownish buzzard, birds in Europe can range from almost uniform black-brown above to mainly white. Extreme dark individuals may range from chocolate brown to blackish with almost no pale showing but a variable, faded U on the breast and with or without faint lighter brown throat streaks. Extreme pale birds are largely whitish with variable widely spaced streaks or arrowheads of light brown about the mid-chest and flanks and may or may not show dark feather-centres on the head, wing-coverts and sometimes all but part of mantle. Individuals can show nearly endless variation of colours and hues in between these extremes and the common buzzard is counted among the most variably plumage diurnal raptors for this reason.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref>Dittrich, W. (1985). ''Gefiedervariationen beim Mäusebussard (Buteo buteo) in Nordbayern''. Journal für Ornithologie, 126(1), 93–97.</ref> One study showed that this variation may actually be the result of diminished [[Locus (genetics)|single-locus]] genetic diversity.<ref>Schreiber, A., Stubbe, A., & Stubbe, M. (2001). ''Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo): A raptor with hyperpolymorphic plumage morphs, but low allozyme heterozygosity''. Journal für Ornithologie, 142(1), 34–48.</ref>
[[File:Common-Buzzard.jpg|thumb|left|Although they can look compact when perched, buzzards may appear large and long-winged in flight.]]
Beyond the nominate form (''B. b. buteo'') that occupies most of the common buzzard's European range, a second main, widely distributed subspecies is known as the steppe buzzard (''B. b. vulpinus''). The steppe buzzard race shows three main colour morphs, each of which can be predominant in a region of breeding range. It is more distinctly [[Polymorphism (biology)|polymorphic]] rather than just individually very variable like the nominate race. This may be because, unlike the nominate buzzard, the steppe buzzard is highly migratory. Polymorphism has been linked with migratory behaviour.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref>Rohwer, S., & Paulson, D. R. (1987). ''The avoidance-image hypothesis and color polymorphism in Buteo hawks''. Ornis Scandinavica, 285–290.</ref> The most common type of steppe buzzard is the rufous morph which gives this subspecies its scientific name (''vulpes'' is Latin for "fox"). This morph comprises a majority of birds seen in passage east of the [[Mediterranean]]. Rufous morph buzzards are a paler grey-brown above than most nominate ''B. b. buteo''. Compared to the nominate race, rufous ''vulpinus'' show a patterning not dissimilar but generally far more rufous-toned on head, the fringes to mantle wing coverts and, especially, on the tail and the underside. The head is grey-brown with rufous tinges usually while the tail is rufous and can vary from almost unmarked to thinly dark-barred with a subterminal band. The underside can be uniformly pale to dark rufous, barred heavily or lightly with rufous or with dusky barring, usually with darker individuals showing the U as in nominate but with a rufous hue. The pale morph of the steppe buzzard is commonest in the west of its subspecies range, predominantly seen in winter and migration at the various land bridge of the Mediterranean. As in the rufous morph, the pale morph ''vulpinus'' is grey-brown above but the tail is generally marked with thin dark bars and a subterminal band, only showing rufous near the tip. The underside in the pale morph is greyish-white with dark grey-brown or somewhat streaked head to chest and barred belly and chest, occasionally showing darker flanks that can be somewhat rufous. Dark morph ''vulpinus'' tend to be found in the east and southeast of the subspecies range and are easily outnumbered by rufous morph while largely using similar migration points. Dark morph individuals vary from grey-brown to much darker blackish-brown, and have a tail that is dark grey or somewhat mixed grey and rufous, is distinctly marked with dark barring and has a broad, black subterminal band. Dark morph ''vulpinus'' have a head and underside that is mostly uniform dark, from dark brown to blackish-brown to almost pure black. Rufous morph juveniles are often distinctly paler in ground colour (ranging even to creamy-grey) than adults with distinct barring below actually increased in pale morph type juvenile. Pale and rufous morph juveniles can only be distinguished from each other in extreme cases. Dark morph juveniles are more similar to adult dark morph ''vulpinus'' but often show a little whitish streaking below, and like all other races have lighter coloured eyes and more evenly barred tails than adults. Steppe buzzards tend to appear smaller and more agile in flight than nominate whose wing beats can look slower and clumsier. In flight, rufous morph ''vulpinus'' have their whole body and underwing varying from uniform to patterned rufous (if patterning present, it is variable, but can be on chest and often thighs, sometimes flanks, pale band across median coverts), while the under-tail usually paler rufous than above. Whitish flight feathers are more prominent than in nominate and more marked contrast with the bold dark brown band along the trailing edges. Markings of pale ''vulpinus'' as seen in flight are similar to rufous morph (such as paler wing markings) but more greyish both on wings and body. In dark morph ''vulpinus'' the broad black trailing edges and colour of body make whitish areas of inner wing stand out further with an often bolder and blacker carpal patch than in other morphs. As in nominate, juvenile ''vulpinus'' (rufous/pale) tend to have much less distinct trailing edges, general streaking on body and along median underwing coverts. Dark morph ''vulpinus'' resemble adult in flight more so than other morphs.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Clark2/><ref name= Porter/><ref name= Voous>Voous, K. H., Hens, P. A., & Van Marle, J. G. (1948). ''The distinguishing characters of the Steppe-Buzzard''. HF &G. Witherby.</ref>

===Similar species===
[[File:Forest Buzzard, Buteo trizonatus, at Hangklip Forest, Makhado, Limpopo Province, South Africa.jpg|thumb|Juvenile [[forest buzzard]]s of Africa are extremely easy to mistake for juvenile common buzzards of the steppe race that come to winter in Africa.]]
The common buzzard is often confused with other raptors especially in flight or at a distance. Inexperienced and over-enthusiastic observers have even mistaken darker birds for the far larger and differently proportioned [[golden eagle]] (''Aquila chrysaetos'') and also dark birds for [[western marsh harrier]] (''Circus aeruginosus'') which also flies in a dihedral but is obviously relatively much longer and slenderer winged and tailed and with far different flying methods. Also buzzards may possibly be confused with dark or light morph [[booted eagle]]s (''Hieraeetus pennatus''), which are similar in size, but the eagle flies on level, parallel-edged wings which usually appear broader, has a longer squarer tail, with no carpal patch in pale birds and all dark flight feathers but for whitish wedge on inner primaries in dark morph ones. Pale individuals are sometimes also mistaken with pale morph [[short-toed eagle]]s (''Circaetus gallicus'') which are much larger with a considerably bigger head, longer wings (which are usually held evenly in flight rather than in a dihedral) and paler underwing lacking any carpal patch or dark wing lining.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Forsman/><ref name= Clark2/> More serious identification concerns lie in other ''Buteo'' species and in flight with [[Pernis (bird)|honey buzzard]]s, which are quite different looking when seen perched at close range. The [[European honey buzzard]] (''Pernis apivorus'') is thought in engage in mimicry of more powerful raptors, in particular, juveniles may mimic the plumage of the more powerful common buzzard.<ref>Duff, D. (2006). ''Has the juvenile plumage of Honey-buzzard evolved to mimic that of Common Buzzard?'' British Birds, 99, 118–128.</ref> While less individually variable in Europe, the honey buzzard is more extensive polymorphic on underparts than even the common buzzard. The most common morph of the adult European honey buzzard is heavily and rufous barred on the underside, quite different from the common buzzard, however the brownish juvenile much more resembles an intermediate common buzzard. Honey buzzards flap with distinctively slower and more even wing beats than common buzzard. The wings are also lifted higher on each upstroke, creating a more regular and mechanical effect, furthermore their wings are held slightly arched when soaring but not in a V. On the honey buzzard, the head appears smaller, the body thinner, the tail longer and the wings narrower and more parallel edged. The steppe buzzard race is particularly often mistaken for juvenile European honey buzzards, to the point where early observers of raptor migration in Israel considered distant individuals indistinguishable. However, when compared to a steppe buzzard, the honey buzzard has distinctly darker secondaries on the underwing with fewer and broader bars and more extensive black wing-tips (whole fingers) contrasting with a less extensively pale hand.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Forsman/><ref name= Porter/> Found in the same range as the steppe buzzard in some parts of southern [[Siberia]] as well as (with wintering steppes) in southwestern [[India]], the [[Oriental honey buzzard]] (''Pernis ptilorhynchus'') is larger than both the European honey buzzard and the common buzzard. The oriental species is with more similar in body plan to common buzzards, being relatively broader winged, shorter tailed and more amply-headed (though the head is still relatively small) relative to the European honey buzzard, but all plumages lack carpal patches.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/>

In much of Europe, the common buzzard is the only type of buzzard. However, the subarctic breeding [[rough-legged buzzard]] (''Buteo lagopus'') comes down to occupy much of the northern part of the continent during winter in the same haunts as the common buzzard. However, the [[rough-legged buzzard]] is typically larger and distinctly longer-winged with feathered legs, as well as having a white based tail with a broad subterminal band. Rough-legged buzzards have slower wing beats and hover far more frequently than do common buzzards. The carpal patch marking on the under-wing are also bolder and blacker on all paler forms of rough-legged hawk. Many pale morph rough-legged buzzards have a bold, blackish band across the belly against contrasting paler feathers, a feature which rarely appears in individual common buzzard. Usually the face also appears somewhat whitish in most pale morphs of rough-legged buzzards, which is true of only extremely pale common buzzards. Dark morph rough-legged buzzards are usually distinctly darker (ranging to almost blackish) than even extreme dark individuals of common buzzards in Europe and still have the distinct white-based tail and broad subterminal band of other roughlegs.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Forsman/><ref name= Porter/> In [[eastern Europe]] and much of the Asian range of common buzzards, the [[long-legged buzzard]] (''Buteo rufinus'') may live alongside the common species. As in the steppe buzzard race, the long-legged buzzard has three main colour morphs that are more or less similar in hue. In both the steppe buzzard race and long-legged buzzard, the main colour is overall fairly rufous. More so than steppe buzzards, long-legged buzzards tend to have a distinctly paler head and neck compared to other feathers, and, more distinctly, a normally unbarred tail. Furthermore, the long-legged buzzard is usually a rather larger bird, often considered fairly [[eagle]]-like in appearance (although it does appear gracile and small-billed even compared to smaller true eagles), an effect enhanced by its longer tarsi, somewhat longer neck and relatively elongated wings. The flight style of the latter species is deeper, slower and more aquiline, with much more frequent hovering, showing a more protruding head and a slightly higher V held in a soar. The smaller [[North Africa]]n and [[Arabia]]n race of long-legged buzzard (''B. r. cirtensis'') is more similar in size and nearly all colour characteristics to steppe buzzard, extending to the heavily streaked juvenile plumage, in some cases such birds can be distinguished only by their proportions and flight patterns which remain unchanged.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Porter/> Hybridization with the latter race (''B. r. cirtensis'') and nominate common buzzards has been observed in the [[Strait of Gibraltar]], a few such birds have been reported potentially in the southern Mediterranean due to mutually encroaching ranges, which are blurring possibly due to climate change.<ref>Elorriaga, J., & Muñoz, A. R. (2013). ''Hybridisation between the Common Buzzard Buteo buteo buteo and the North African race of Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus cirtensis in the Strait of Gibraltar: prelude or preclude to colonisation?'' Ostrich, 84(1), 41–45.</ref>

Wintering steppe buzzards may live alongside [[mountain buzzard]]s and especially with [[forest buzzard]] while wintering in Africa. The juveniles of steppe and forest buzzards are more or less indistinguishable and only told apart by proportions and flight style, the latter species being smaller, more compact, having a smaller bill, shorter legs and shorter and thinner wings than a steppe buzzard. However, size is not diagnostic unless side by side as the two buzzards overlap in this regard. Most reliable are the species wing proportions and their flight actions. Forest buzzard have more flexible wing beats interspersed with glides, additionally soaring on flatter wings and apparently never engage in hovering. Adult forest buzzards compared to the typical adult steppe buzzard (rufous morph) are also similar, but the forest typically has a whiter underside, sometimes mostly plain white, usually with heavy blotches or drop-shaped marks on abdomen, with barring on thighs, more narrow tear-shaped on chest and more spotted on leading edges of underwing, usually lacking marking on the white U across chest (which is otherwise similar but usually broader than that of ''vulpinus''). In comparison, the mountain buzzard, which is more similar in size to the steppe buzzard and slightly larger than the forest buzzard, is usually duller brown above than a steppe buzzard and is more whitish below with distinctive heavy brown blotches from breasts to the belly, flanks and wing linings while juvenile mountain buzzard is buffy below with smaller and streakier markings. The steppe buzzard when compared to another African species, the [[red-necked buzzard]] (''Buteo auguralis''), which has red tail similar to ''vulpinus'', is distinct in all other plumage aspects despite their similar size. The latter buzzard has a streaky rufous head and is white below with a contrasting bold dark chest in adult plumage and, in juvenile plumage, has heavy, dark blotches on the chest and flanks with pale wing-linings. [[Jackal buzzard|Jackal]] and [[augur buzzard]]s (''Buteo rufofuscus'' & ''augur''), also both rufous on the tail, are larger and bulkier than steppe buzzards and have several distinctive plumage characteristics, most notably both having their own striking, contrasting patterns of black-brown, rufous and cream.<ref name= Ferguson-Lees/><ref name= Forsman/><ref name= Steyn>Steyn, P. (1983). ''Birds of prey of southern Africa: Their identification and life histories''. Croom Helm, Beckenham (UK). 1983.</ref>