Two groups of bird watchers have sighted an extremely rare bird of prey in Tamilnadu – the ‘Long-Legged Buzzard’. The bird was first sighted in December 6th at around 5:50 pm in Palladam Puliampatti Village, Tiruppur district. The group comprised of Mr. Chetankumar H Joshi, Mr. G. Parameswaran, Mr. Gajamohanraj, Mr. Kishore Kumaran, Mr. Sivashankar Ramachandran and Miss. Vridhi. They had visited the village to sight a few uncommon species (Eurasian cuckoo, Tree pipit, Indian Spotted eagle & European roller) that was reported from that location by Bird watcher Balaji P B who hails from Puliampatti. The group saw a raptor in flight. A few photographs were taken when the bird was in flight. The bird then settled on a fencing stone. Many photographs were also taken for confirming the identity of the bird. Unfortunately, before anyone could take a closer look, the bird was mobbed by house crows and it flew away. After the sighting, the field marks were observed and written down. The possibility of this bird being a "Long-legged Buzzard" was actively discussed within the group and Mr. Kishore Kumaran always maintained that it was a Long-legged Buzzard. This was later confirmed by many raptor experts (Sudhir Vyas, Prasad Ganpule, Nirav Bhat etc)".
The bird, probably the same individual, (but it is difficult to be certain) was re-sighted in approximately in the same location three months later by Balaji P B on March 12th 2017 at around 12:20 pm. He had been revisiting the location several times at different times of day in hope of spotting the extremely rare bird. Most raptors observe Philopatry or Site fidelity, a technical term used to describe a bird’s affinity to a particular location. In visiting the same location several times of the day, Balaji was hoping that philopatry would work to his favour with this bird. Conventional wisdom amongst bird watchers is that birds are most active during early morning and late evenings. However, birds of prey are active in the daytime when they exploit the rising thermals to gain height without much effort. It is therefore unsurprising that this bird was sighted in midday. It was roosting in an acacia tree along a mud road when it was sighted. Unlike the first occasion, the bird was quite at peace and therefore offered good photographic opportunities. These photographs were later invaluable in positively identifying the bird.
What makes these sightings very unique is the fact that there are no historical records of this bird in Tamilnadu. Positive identification of the bird is also quite a challenge as it shares many features common with another winter migrant named ‘common buzzard’ (Buteo Buteo). Though photographs of the bird have been taken on both the occasions, it was only after lengthy consultations with several experts that we are now able to conclude that it is indeed a ‘Long-Legged buzzard’ (Buteo rufinus).
Long-Legged buzzard is a winter migrant in our country and is sighted in dry open plains in North and central India. It inhabits dry open plains of northern Africa, southeastern Europe, west and central Asia east to China. Open, uncultivated areas, with high bushes, trees, cliffs or hillocks are favoured as nesting areas of this bird. Younger birds disperse north of breeding grounds and there are records from Northern Europe. It feeds mostly on small rodents, although it will also take lizards, snakes, small birds and large insects.
This bird becomes an important new addition to the Birds of Tamilnadu. India has about 1400 birds of which of which roughly about 800 are resident birds and 600 are cross border migrants (they only visit India for part of a year like summer or winter). Bird watchers in Tamilnadu, over the years, have confirmed records about 650 species of birds. The status of Long-legged buzzard was, till now, unresolved. Even though there were a handful of reported sightings, they could not be satisfactorily resolved because of absence of good quality photographic evidence and also because of challenges in accurately identifying the bird.
This sighting also brings to focus the importance of records and maintaining good field notes. Today, online and app based platforms like ‘ebird’ are available for making and sharing records amongst the bird watching community. We would urge all the bird watchers to make use of such tools which, in addition to helping in maintaining records and notes, would also help the scientific community in estimating bird populations and also their changes over time. Such data would also help to draw conservation plans to conserve endangered species and their habitats.
The bird, probably the same individual, (but it is difficult to be certain) was re-sighted in approximately in the same location three months later by Balaji P B on March 12th 2017 at around 12:20 pm. He had been revisiting the location several times at different times of day in hope of spotting the extremely rare bird. Most raptors observe Philopatry or Site fidelity, a technical term used to describe a bird’s affinity to a particular location. In visiting the same location several times of the day, Balaji was hoping that philopatry would work to his favour with this bird. Conventional wisdom amongst bird watchers is that birds are most active during early morning and late evenings. However, birds of prey are active in the daytime when they exploit the rising thermals to gain height without much effort. It is therefore unsurprising that this bird was sighted in midday. It was roosting in an acacia tree along a mud road when it was sighted. Unlike the first occasion, the bird was quite at peace and therefore offered good photographic opportunities. These photographs were later invaluable in positively identifying the bird.
What makes these sightings very unique is the fact that there are no historical records of this bird in Tamilnadu. Positive identification of the bird is also quite a challenge as it shares many features common with another winter migrant named ‘common buzzard’ (Buteo Buteo). Though photographs of the bird have been taken on both the occasions, it was only after lengthy consultations with several experts that we are now able to conclude that it is indeed a ‘Long-Legged buzzard’ (Buteo rufinus).
Long-Legged buzzard is a winter migrant in our country and is sighted in dry open plains in North and central India. It inhabits dry open plains of northern Africa, southeastern Europe, west and central Asia east to China. Open, uncultivated areas, with high bushes, trees, cliffs or hillocks are favoured as nesting areas of this bird. Younger birds disperse north of breeding grounds and there are records from Northern Europe. It feeds mostly on small rodents, although it will also take lizards, snakes, small birds and large insects.
This bird becomes an important new addition to the Birds of Tamilnadu. India has about 1400 birds of which of which roughly about 800 are resident birds and 600 are cross border migrants (they only visit India for part of a year like summer or winter). Bird watchers in Tamilnadu, over the years, have confirmed records about 650 species of birds. The status of Long-legged buzzard was, till now, unresolved. Even though there were a handful of reported sightings, they could not be satisfactorily resolved because of absence of good quality photographic evidence and also because of challenges in accurately identifying the bird.
This sighting also brings to focus the importance of records and maintaining good field notes. Today, online and app based platforms like ‘ebird’ are available for making and sharing records amongst the bird watching community. We would urge all the bird watchers to make use of such tools which, in addition to helping in maintaining records and notes, would also help the scientific community in estimating bird populations and also their changes over time. Such data would also help to draw conservation plans to conserve endangered species and their habitats.