Honey buzzard

The European honey buzzard receives its name from its habit of eating wasps, hornets, and bees. Dense plumage (feathering) protects the the buzzard from stings. Large flocks of these birds of prey, or raptors, migrate great distances each year between Europe, Eurasia, and Africa.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Accipitriformes

Family: Accipitridae

Genus: Pernis

Species: Apivorus

Thick brown plumage, or feathering, covers the backs, tails, and wings of the European honey buzzards. Their undersides are equally protected by thick, brown-marked, white plumage. This dense plumage is important protection against the stings of bees, hornets, and wasps which are the chief food of these birds of prey. European honey buzzards are 1 1/2 to 2 feet (45 to 60 centimeters) long and weigh one to two pounds (1/2 to 1 kilogram). They have a 53-to-59-inch (135 to 150 centimeter) wingspan.

European honey buzzards live alone except when they are migrating or mating. They may inhabit meadows, thickets, and wetlands, but avoid farmland and populated areas. In its warm, damp, wooded habitat, a European honey buzzard either walks through the forest and forages for food or sits on a perch and waits for its meal to arrive. A wandering wasp, hornet, or bee makes a tasty snack for the bird, which swoops down to seize it in its sharp beak. The buzzard is intelligent enough to know that one wasp or hornet may lead it to its nest. Because of this, the European honey buzzard sometimes waits to eat the first wasp it sees and instead follows it to its nest. At the nest, the bird digs into the nest and scoops out the dirt with its bill. Tiny slit nostrils keep dirt out of its nasal passages. Once inside the nest, the European honey buzzard satisfies itself with the pupae, larvae, and adult insects, taking particular care first to snip off the adults' stingers before eating the bodies. They also consume other insects, spiders, and worms, in addition to frogs, snakes, mammals, nestling birds (young in the nest), berries, and other fruit.

When winter is over, flocks of nearly 25,000 or even 125,000 migrate from Africa across the Straits of Gibraltar and the Bosphorus near Turkey. They fly north into Europe and Asia for the spring mating season which lasts from mid-April to September. Males do aerial acrobatics to attract females. A male and female usually form a pair for life. The two birds share in the work of building a nest from twigs and vegetation in a tall tree, such as a beech, pine, or spruce. Into the soft, well-camouflaged nest the female lays two eggs. The eggs are brown with dark purple-red or reddish-brown spots. Both parents share in the task of incubating the eggs, sitting on them to keep them warm and to hide them from predators. The eggs hatch after 30 to 35 days. The parents feed the young buzzards larvae from wasps' nests for nearly three weeks before the young begin to feed themselves with the food their parents bring. At six weeks of age, they take their first flight from the nest but may still receive food from their parents. When the end of summer arrives, the young are independent and are ready to migrate south to Africa.

European honey buzzards have few predators although many fall prey to goshawks. Migration routes over Spain, Italy, and Greece have resulted in many birds being shot in the last several decades, but they are not endangered. The average life span of a European honey buzzard is nine years, although many live over 20 years. The oldest recorded life span of a European honey buzzard was just under 29 years.

Bibliography

“European Honey Buzzard - Facts, Diet, Habita, & Pictures on Animalia.bio.” Animalia, 2024, animalia.bio/european-honey-buzzard. Accessed 12 Apr. 2024.

Mayor, Dana. “Honey Buzzard Bird Facts.” A-Z Animals, 5 May 2023, a-z-animals.com/animals/honey-buzzard. Accessed 12 Apr. 2024.