Birdpass
English
European Honey Buzzard

European Honey Buzzard

Pernis apivorus

Identify the European Honey Buzzard by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.

  • Download on the App Store
  • Get it on Google Play

The European Honey Buzzard is a slim, long-winged raptor that breeds across much of Europe and western Asia and winters in tropical Africa. True to its name, it specialises in digging out wasp and bumblebee nests for their larvae, helped by long toes and dense, scale-like feathering on the face. In flight it shows a small, pigeon-like head on a long neck and a long tail. Its plumage varies greatly from dark to pale.

Did you know?

  • It is the only known predator in Europe of the invasive Asian hornet.
  • Young birds resemble Common Buzzards, possibly a form of mimicry that deters Goshawks.

Voice

Flight call

About the species

Identification

A medium-sized raptor separated from Common Buzzard by its long-necked, small-headed, pigeon-like look, fairly narrow, straighter wings and clearly longer tail with a broad dark terminal band and two narrower bars near the base. It glides steadily on thermals with wings held flat or drooping. Colouring varies from dark to pale; males often have a grey head.

Family

Accipitridae

Size

Large (crow)

Colours

brown, grey, white, yellow

About the habitat

Mature deciduous or mixed woodland with nearby open areas such as clearings, heaths and field edges; it nests in the forest but forages along woodland margins.

Diet

Mainly larvae, pupae and combs of social wasps and bumblebees, dug out of the ground; also other insects, frogs, reptiles, small mammals, birds and berries.

Behaviour

A long-distance migrant that avoids long sea crossings and funnels through narrow straits such as Gibraltar and the Bosphorus. It is secretive at the nest in the forest but hunts along edges and clearings, following wasps to their nest. In spring it performs a wing-clapping display flight. It soars on flat, slightly drooping wings with the head protruding.

Sources

Photo: Andreas Trepte, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wespenbussard European honey buzzard Pernis apivorus, crop.jpg

Sound: Benoît Van Hecke, XC580934, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://xeno-canto.org/580934

Text: Wikipedia (English) + FinBIF species descriptions, CC BY-SA 4.0; FinBIF: CC BY 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_honey_buzzard

See also