Mountain Buzzard

Buteo oreophilus

Near Threatened · IUCN Red List

NTNear ThreatenedVertebratesForestPlatform nestLarge · 700 g

ID tip

A small buzzard and quite similar to the steppe buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus, the migratory subspecies of the Palearctic common buzzard which winters over most of Africa. The adult has brown upperparts with paler underparts with heavy brown blotches on the breast, belly, flanks and underwing coverts. The underside of the flight feathers is barred with a distinct black band along the rear edge of the wing. The tail is brown above, light grey below and shows faint narrow bars which are broadest just before the tail tip. Juveniles are buffier below and less heavily marked than the adults.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Mountain Buzzard

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is July, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Mountain Buzzard

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 8 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in South Africa.

About the Mountain Buzzard

The mountain buzzard is a bird of prey that lives in montane forests in East Africa, it and the forest buzzard of southern Africa were, until recently, considered to be a single species.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Mountain Buzzard vs White-throated Hawk · Madagascar Buzzard vs Mountain Buzzard · Mountain Buzzard vs Red-necked Buzzard

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