Grey-faced Buzzard

Overview

The grey-faced buzzard (Butastur indicus) is a small-sized raptor native to Asia, measuring 41–46 cm in length. It breeds in Manchuria, Korea, and Japan, and winters in South-east Asia.

Identification

• Adults feature a grey head, breast, and neck with a white throat, black moustaches and mesial stripes, and a brown back and upperwings.
• Underparts and underwings are white with brown bars, while the tail is ashy brown with horizontal bars.
• The iris is bright yellow, and wings are narrow and pointed, appearing thin and transparent in flight.
• Juveniles are brown and mottled above with pale, brown-streaked underparts, possessing a broad white supercilium and a brown face.

Habitat

This species inhabits open land, including coniferous and mixed evergreen forests in mountains, forest edges, fields, meadows, marshes, and agricultural lands. In Japan, it is predominantly found in Satoyama landscapes, which consist of woodlands, paddy fields, streams, and grasslands. It utilises the world's only oceanic flyway for raptor migration, with significant movements observed in Taiwan.

Diet

The buzzard feeds on frogs, crustaceans, lizards, insects, small rodents, snakes, and occasionally other birds. It employs a search and ambush hunting method, perching on trees or utility poles adjacent to open habitats before swooping down to capture prey with its feet. Its diet shifts with foraging sites and seasons, ranging from frogs in paddy fields to insects in wooded areas.

Did you know?

This species utilises the world's only oceanic flyway for raptor migration, supported by wind and geographic features such as islands. Historically, the demand for its skins in Taiwan was effectively ended by legislation in Japan that prohibited the importation of raptor skins.