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The occurrence of Crested Honey Buzzard
Pernis ptilorhyncus in Uzbekistan andTajikistan and its status in Central Asia
MANUEL SCHWEIZER & MAXIM MITROPOLSKIY

Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis
ptilorhyncus has two distinct groups ofpopulations. The southern one, of fivedifferent subspecies, is mainly sedentary and breeds from Pakistan over theIndian subcontinent and southeast
Asia to the Philippines, Borneo,Sumatra and Java. The northern populations, subspecies orientalis, breed insouthern Siberia east to Amurland, on
Sakhalin, and south to Manchuria,
Japan and possibly Korea. In autumn,
these northern populations migratesouth to winter on the Indian subcontinent, in southeast Asia, Indonesia
and the Philippines (del Hoyo et al1994, Ferguson-Lees & Christie 2001).
However, there is also a westernmigration route passing through Figure 1. Map of localities with Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis
Kazakhstan, where it has been record- ptilorhyncus records listed in Table 1 and position of the Chokpak
Pass.
ed from the Altai, the Alakol region,
south of Lake Balkhash, and at the Karatau and western Tien
Shan mountains. Along this route in Kazakhstan, Crested Honey
Buzzard is a rare to scarce passage migrant from late April tomid-June and late August to mid October (Wassink & Oreel 2007,
Gavrilov & Gavrilov 2005). The largest numbers have beenrecorded at the Chokpak Pass (Figure 1) which is well south andover 10° west of the known western breeding limit (FergusonLees & Christie 2001).
Our recent observations of Crested Honey Buzzard inUzbekistan have led us to review its status in Central Asian(Middle Asian) countries other than Kazakhstan (Plate 1). Onlyfew published records of Crested Honey Buzzard in these othercountries exist, mainly in the Russian literature and solely in Plate 1. Crested Honey
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Table 1 shows these published Buzzard Pernis ptilorhyncus,Chimgan, Uzbekistan, May 9
records together with the recent observations from Uzbekistan. 2006. © Daniel Kreuzberg
There are 13 records from Uzbekistan and three from Tajikistan,of altogether 62 individuals. Eight records refer to spring migration, eight autumn migration. Although Crested Honey Buzzard has apparently not been recorded in Turkmenistan
or Kyrgyzstan, the record of two juveniles migrating at Kosmostanzyi in the Ili-Alatau
national park of Kazakhstan (Wassink & Oreel 2007) was only about 15 km from theKyrgyz border (Arend Wassink in litt).

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DISCUSSION
The recent observations from Uzbekistan show that the Crested Honey Buzzard may
migrate regularly through this country. All records are from the vicinity of the Chatkalrange, the north-western end of the Tien-Shan mountains. Crested Honey Buzzards
observed here consist most probably of the same birds that migrate through the Chokpak
Pass in southern Kazakhstan (Figure 1). The Chokpak Pass lies between the Zhabagly Tau
and the Boroldai ridge (Karatau range) and birds in spring flying to the north along thewestern end of the Chatkal range would reach one of these mountain ranges and birds
crossing the Chokpak Pass on their way south in autumn would reach the Chatkal range.
The Central Asian migration route of this species could be the result of an unrecorded
westward breeding-range expansion or might be part of a migration route around and perhaps through the Tien Shan and Hindu Kush evolved to avoid crossing the Himalayas(Ferguson-Lees & Christie 2001). However, there are only two certain records of Crested
Honey Buzzard from Afghanistan so far, one juvenile bird on 12 September 2007 at
Ishkashim (Badakhshan, 36°42’ N 71°34’ E) and one adult on 21 September 2007 at
Nakhchirshitk (Great Pamir valley, Wakhan, 37°12’ N 72°57’ E) (Raffael Ayé, Wildlife
Conservation Society/USAID, in litt). Additionally, a sight record of 29 European Honey
Buzzards P. apivorus in NE Afghanistan on 15 May 1978 by Thiollay (1978) might refer toCrested Honey Buzzard, according to Rasmussen & Anderton (2005).
European Honey Buzzard is a scarce passage migrant in Kazakhstan, and also migrates
over Chokpak Pass and through Uzbekistan (Wassink & Oreel 2007, pers obs), and Crested
Honey Buzzards might be caught up in migrating flocks of European Honey Buzzards inautumn and then spend the non-breeding season with them in Africa (Ferguson-Lees &Christie 2001). In the United Arab Emirates, Crested Honey Buzzard has become a regular
winter visitor in very small numbers to Abu Dhabi island in recent years and there are 10records from elsewhere in the country (Pedersen 2007). In Kuwait, after the first record in2001, Crested Honey Buzzard is considered a scarce passage migrant with three records in
September and one each in April, May and October (Gregory 2005). In recent years, there
have also been the first six records of Crested Honey Buzzard in Iran and it may be a scarcebut almost regular winter visitor and passage migrant in the southern part of this country(Sehhatisabet et al 2006, Duquet & Richardson 2000, Raffael Ayé in litt). There are also sevenrecords of Crested Honey Buzzard in Oman, more than 20 from Israel and it has also beenfound in the Caucasus, Turkey and Egypt (Eriksen et al 2007, Ferguson-Lees & Christie2001).
Given the comparatively low ornithological coverage of Uzbekistan and especially
Tajikistan, Crested Honey Buzzard may be a much commoner migrant than the records
suggest and may have a similar status as in Kazakhstan. Hopefully, the true status ofCrested Honey Buzzard in all countries of Central Asia can be clarified in the near future.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For their help in the field or during preparation of this article, we are grateful to Raffael Ayé, SamuelBachmann, Dick Forsman, Roman Kashkarov, Elena Kreuzberg-Mukhina, Daniel Kreuzberg, Oleg
Mitropolskiy, Steve Rooke and Tobias Roth. Arend Wassink and Geoff Welch made valuable comments on
the submitted ms.

REFERENCES
Abdusalyamov, IA. 1971. [Fauna of the Tajik SSR, Birds. Vol. 19. Part 1]. Donish, Dushanbe. [In Russian].
del Hoyo, J, A Elliot & J Sargatal (eds). 1994. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 2 New World Vultures toGuineafowl. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Duquet, MC & C Richardson. 2000. First and second records of Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus
in Iran. Sandgrouse 22: 133–134.

162

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Eriksen, J, DE Sargeant & R Victor. 2007. Additions and Corrections to the Oman Bird List, Edition 6, SQU 2003.
www.birdsoman.com.
Ferguson-Lees, J & D Christie. 2001. Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London.
Gavrilov, E & A Gavrilov. 2005. The Birds of Kazakhstan. Abridged edition. Tethys Ornithological Research 2:
3–222.
Gregory, G. 2005. The Birds of the State of Kuwait. George Gregory, Skegness, UK.
Mitropolskiy, M. 2002. [New and rare birds of the Western Tien-Shan (Uzbekistan)]. [Biodiversity of theWestern Tien-Shan. Protection and sustainable use]. Chinor ENK, Tashkent, pp156–157. [In Russian].
Mitropolskiy, M. 2007. Autumn migration of the Crested Honey Buzzard and the Great Spotted Eagle in theTashkent Vicinities. Raptors Conservation 9: 66–67, http://ecoclub.nsu.ru.
Mitropolskiy, OV, ER Fotteler & GP Tretyakov. 1987. [Birds of Uzbekistan]. Fan, Tashkent. [In Russian].
Ostapenko, MM. 1960. [About the occurrence of the Crested Honey Buzzard in Uzbekistan]. [Uzbek BiologicalJournal] 5: 70. [In Russian].
Pedersen, T. 2007. Birds of the United Arab Emirates – an annotated checklist. www.tommypedersen.com.
Popov, AV. 1950. [Observations of the Crested Honey Buzzard in Tajikistan]. [Reports of Academy of Science ofTaj USSR] 22: 35–36. [In Russian].
Rasmussen, PC & JC Anderton. 2005. Birds of South Asia. 2 vols. Smithsonian Institution/Lynx Edicions,Washington DC/Barcelona.
Sehhatisabet, ME, SB Musavi, P Bakhtiari, D Moghaddas, N Hamidi, B Nezami & A Khaleghizadeh. 2006.
Further significant extensions of migrant distribution and breeding and wintering ranges in Iran forover sixty species. Sandgrouse 28: 146–155.
Thiollay, JM. 1978. Précisions nouvelles sur le statut de certains rapaces en Afghanistan. Alauda 46: 98–100.
Wassink, A & GJ Oreel. 2007. The Birds of Kazakhstan. De Cocksdorp, Texel, Netherlands.
Manuel Schweizer, Naturhistorisches Museum der Burgergemeinde Bern, Bernastrasse 15, CH-3005 Berne, Switzerland.
schw@bluewin.ch
Maxim Mitropolskiy, Qara-Qamish 2/3, h. 1. f. 32, Tashkent, 700175, Uzbekistan. max_raptors@ronl.ru

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ERRATUM
Schweizer M & M Mitropolskiy. 2008. The occurrence of Crested Honey Buzzard Pernis
ptilorhyncus in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and its status in Central Asia. Sandgrouse 30:
161–163.
The editor apologises for the omission of Table 1, which is reproduced in full below.
Table 1. Published records of Crested Honey Buzzard in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and recent observations fromUzbekistan. (coll NUUz = Collection of National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent).
Country

Date

Uzbekistan 12 May 2007

Tajikistan

Locality

Number Observerof birds

SourceChimgan1

S Rooke, Sunbird

unpublished

18 August 2006

Pulathan1

M Mitropolskiy

unpublished19 July 2006

Chaylisay

6

M Mitropolskiy

unpublished

9 May 2006

Chimgan

20

Manuel Schweizer,
Samuel Bachmann,
Daniel Kreuzberg

unpublished

8 May 2006

Masarsay

10

Manuel Schweizer,
Elena Kreuzberg-Mukhina,
Samuel Bachmann,
Daniel Kreuzberg

unpublished

8 May 2006

Chimgan2

Manuel Schweizer,
Elena Kreuzberg-Mukhina,
Samuel Bachmann,
Daniel Kreuzberg

unpublished3 November 2005

Dzhana-aryk

1

M Mitropolskiy

Mitropolskiy 2007

18 May 1999

Chimgan13

M Mitropolskiy

Mitropolskiy 2002

9 May 1998

Humsan1

M Mitropolskiy

Mitropolskiy 2002

9 September 1970

Tashkent

1

AN Aupov, coll NUUz

Mitropolskiy et al 1987

12 September 1966

Tashkent

1

R Meklenburtsev,
coll NUUz

Mitropolskiy et al 1987

18 October 1949

Tashkent

1

MM Ostapenko

Ostapenko 1960

27 May 1948

Tashkent

1

R Meklenburtsev

unpublished

24 April 1969

Dushanbe

1

HH Mamsurov

Abdusalyamov 1971

13/19 September1949

near Shahristan 2
PassAV Popov

Popov 1950

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