Anand et al.: European Honey-Buzzard

45

The European Honey-Buzzard Pernis apivorus in India,
and notes on its identification
Vinoba Anand, Prashanth Aiyappa, Umesh Pavukandy & Dick Forsman
Anand, V., Aiyappa, P., Pavukandy, U., & Forsman, D., 2020. The European Honey-Buzzard Pernis apivorus in India, and notes on its identification. Indian BIRDS 16 (2): 45–47.
Vinoba Anand, 1H/595 Palpandi Nagar 7th Street, Millerpuram Tuticorin 628008, Tamil Nadu, India. E-mail: gvvinoba.anand@gmail.com [Corresponding author.] [VA]
Prashanth Aiyappa, Dunsandle Estate, Dunsandle Post, The Nilgiris 643005, Tamil Nadu, India. E-mail: prashanthaiyappa@gmail.com [PA]Umesh Pavukandy, Pavukandy house, Moolad, Kozhikode 637614, Kerala, India. E-mail: pavukandy@gmail.com [UP]Dick Forsman. Email: dick@dickforsman.com [DF]Manuscript received on 23 June 2020.

HObservation & Identification
On 15 February 2015, while we, VA, PA, and UP, were birdingat Manjolai (08.56ºN, 77.40ºE), Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu,we saw a bird of prey flying close to a tea plantation. Our initial
impression was of a Jerdon’s Baza Aviceda jerdoni as the bird
looked sleek and compact in its wing to tail proportions, and weclicked a few pictures. After having studied the pictures [33, 34,35] we identified it as an OHB, as this species is a polymorphic
raptor, despite the bird not showing a typical OHB jizz.

33. European Honey-Buzzard with underwing showing the well-defined dark carpel patch, adark terminal tail band, with two finer bars. on 15 February 2015, Manjolai, Tamil Nadu.

34. European Honey-Buzzard, showing bright yellow iris without a dark gorget, or mesial stripes
on 15 February 2015, Manjolai, Tamil Nadu..

While browsing an old hard disk, VA accidentally came acrossthese images which he took a couple of years ago. Having gone
through a few records of EHB x OHB hybrid sightings fromKerala and one other suspected EHB from Sri Lanka and theiridentification features, the different pointers between the OHB vsBoth: Vinoba Anandoney-Buzzards Pernis sp., are medium-sized birds ofprey that have a wide distribution in Eurasia and Africa.
The two widely distributed species in this genus are theEuropean Honey-Buzzard P. apivorus (hereinafter EHB), andthe Oriental Honey-Buzzard P. ptilorhynchus (hereinafter OHB).
The EHB breeds across most of Europe and western Asia, fromSpain, France, Britain, and Scandinavia through western Russia
and the Caucasus to the River Ob in south-western Siberia, andsouthwards to southern Turkey and northern Iran. It wintersmostly in Africa, south of Sahara (Orta et al. 2020a). A few
occasional winter records from southern Europe and Arabia
were also documented (Grussu et al. 1998; Corso et al. 2000;
A. Corso pers. com.). The polytypic OHB consists of two wideranging subspecies: (a) orientalis and, (b) ruficollis, apart fromthree other endemic, island subspecies. While ruficollis occurs inmost of southern Asia, including India, and is sedentary, with only
local movements, the northern orientalis subspecies is strongly
migratory, breeding across south-central Siberia, eastwards toAmurland and Sakhalin, southwards to north-eastern China,Japan, and Korea, and winters in South-east Asia, southward
to the Greater- and Lesser Sundas, Philippines, and Sangihe,with very small numbers farther west, possibly also winteringin eastern Africa (Scuderi & Corso 2011; Orta et al. 2020b). In
India, orientalis has been reported rarely from different parts ofthe country (Ali & Ripley 1987; Rasmussen & Anderton 2012).
Despite there being definite molecular differences between
EHB and OHB (Gamauf & Haring 2004), occasionally apparent
hybrids have been reported (Faveyts et al. 2011; Forsman
1994, 2016), presumably originating from the region where thenorthern populations of OHB meets the EHB breeding range—around southern Russia and north-eastern Kazakhstan (Orta etal. 2020).
Till date, there has not been any definitive report of EHB fromIndia (Grimmett et al. 2011; Rasmussen & Anderton 2012), andhere we report the first sighting of EHB from India.

Indian Birds Vol. 16 No. 2 (Publ. 30 July 2020 )46

Vinoba Anand

Identification hints

35. European Honey-Buzzard, upperwing on 15 February 2015, Manjolai, Tamil Nadu.

EHB registered in his mind faintly. On reviewing the pictures once
again, he realised that they could be a good candidate for anEHB, based on the following features: The bird had well-defineddark carpal patches, and the tail- and wing barring patterns weresimilar to EHB—a dark terminal band followed by two finer bars
in the tail, and a dark trailing edge, followed by two narrow bars
in the wings. The greyish face featured a bright yellow iris, thedark gorget and mesial stripes were lacking, and the outermost
dark bars in the secondaries were disappearing under the wing
coverts before reaching the body.
In order to eliminate a potential hybrid, VA sent these pictures
to DF who confirmed the bird as a male EHB without any traceof OHB features.

Status in India and South Asia
EHB is not listed for the country in any of the standard guides(Grimmett et al. 2011; Rasmussen & Anderton 2012), nor in
the India Checklist (Praveen et al. 2020a). It has been includedin the South Asia checklist (Praveen et al. 2020b) based on a
photographic record from the British Indian Ocean Territory (Carr2015). Sight reports from Afghanistan have not been acceptedby Praveen (2018), and Rasmussen & Anderton (2012).
However, two cases of EHB x OHB hybrids have been recently
reported from Kerala (Munderi 2020; Paleri 2020). There wasalso a photograph of a putative EHB from Mannar Island, SriLanka, in 2019 (Moditha 2019). Hence, it is likely that EHB andEHB x OHB hybrids are overlooked in the country. We provide
a brief summary of the identification features that would help
differentiate them.

Identification of OHB and EHB has been well-covered in severalworks (Forsman 2016; Faveyts et al. 2011; Campbell et al. 2016;
Corso 2009; Scuderi & Corso 2011). However, we cover somedetails of its identification that are relevant for bird enthusiasts
in India.
The adult EHB occurs in three main morphs: the pale, thedark, and the various intermediates. The typical adult pale andmottled morph EHB (both sexes) shows the prominent dark
carpal patches (always absent in OHB), which would be a very
good pointer to start with. In the EHB five-fingered primaries(P10–P6) are visible prominently, and six are visible in theOHB (P10–P5), but these are tricky to evaluate in molting birds
between October–January/February, and in some birds P5 could
sometimes appear slightly fingered too, or at least protruding. The
EHB does not show a gorget and mesial stripe, whereas OHB
shows both.
The pale morph of an adult male EHB shows cleaner flightfeathers, with underwing coverts varying from being pale,to barred. Adult male EHBs generally have a grey head withyellow iris (dark red in male OHB), however, this feature is best
assessed in a series of photographs. The male has a broad black
terminal bar in the tail and a broad black trailing edge to thewings. The barring on the flight feathers is mostly confined closer
to the coverts, and the outermost underwing barring disappears
just under the coverts before reaching the body, as though there
were a long jump from the trailing edge to the next dark bar.
The pale morph of an adult female EHB shows morepatterned flight feathers, with finer bars, and the dark trailing edge
on the wings is much narrower compared to a male. The wingbars on the secondaries run further out, which makes it a narrow
jump from the trailing edge to the next barring.
Dark morph birds are challenging as the carpal patches,though present, cannot be appreciated in either of the sexes
because of the lack of contrast. However, the tail and underwing
patterns remain more or less the same including the five-fingeredprimaries. In these situations, some familiarity with the structureof the bird would be needed to resolve such cases.
In the field, the EHB stands out as being smaller and slimmer
than an OHB, with proportionally longer tail and narrower wings,its wing tip is slightly rounder, whereas an OHB is broaderwinged and shorter-tailed. The five primary fingers of an EHB
give an impression of a less broad wingtip compared to an OHB.
However, female EHBs can also present a broad-winged profile.
As a rule, an EHB’s the tail is longer than the width of the wingbase, while it is vice versa in an OHB (Forsman 2016). These

Table 1. Key features that separate a pale morph EHB from an OHB (not exhaustive)
Features

EHB

OHB

Carpal patch

Well defined and prominent

None (or) not well-defined

No of fingered primaries

FiveSix

Gorget on throat

Not present (or) incomplete

Yes

Mesial stripe

Not present (or) short and ill-defined

Yes

Tail pattern

Dark terminal bar followed by two finer bars

Usually two broad black bars (highly variable)

Outer bar in secondaries

Disappears into the coverts before reaching the body

Reaches the bodyAnand et al.: European Honey-Buzzard

features make an EHB look slightly smaller, and less bulkier inflight than an OHB (Faveyts et al. 2011), with which most ofIndian observers are familiar. The flight of an EHB is generally lessheavy and more elegant than that of an OHB, but this should be
used with care, and prolonged views are recommended whenusing this as a diagnostic feature.
Finally, hybrids between EHBs and OHBs show a number ofoverlapping features, and special care should be taken to identify
an EHB, and its identification should be confirmed only if all
diagnostic features are observed (Forsman 2016). These hybrids
are known to occur in southern India as well, as reported byMunderi (2020) and Paleri (2020), where birds showed most
EHB characteristics except one or two. The bird from Kannur,
Kerala, photographed by Abdul Raheem Munderi, showed thedark outer line in the secondaries reaching the body like that ofan OHB (disappearing under the coverts in a male EHB), and anorange iris, which is a trait of the hybrid, instead of deep red fora male OHB (bright yellow in EHB). The bird from Kozhikode,Kerala, photographed by Abdulla Paleri, showed a prominent
gorget like that present on an OHB (absent in EHB), and the bird
has the six protruding primary fingers (five in EHB).
The plumage of an EHB is also extremely variable, like an
OHB, however the wing and tail barring in the EHB is less prone
to variation, being diagnostic in all plumages, while the bodyplumage of the underparts varies from white, through streaked(or) barred, to all dark (Forsman 1998, 2016). However, juvenile
plumages of both, the EHB, and the OHB are extremely variable,superficially similar to each other, and difficult to tell apart, though
the difference in the number of fingered primaries remains. Theyare beyond the scope of this paper, and interested readers aredirected to Forsman (2016) for a detailed summary.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Chandrashekar S., Dipu K., Gnanaskandan K., Mujeeb P. B., Praveen J., andWichyanan L., for their time and discussions on the identifications. We would like tothank Praveen J and Andrea Corso for their help and guidance in improving this article.

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