The grasshopper buzzard (''Butastur rufipennis'') is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which is found in a narrow zone of sub-Saharan Africa north of the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

Taxonomy

The grasshopper buzzard forms a superspecies with the

white-eyed buzzard The white-eyed buzzard (''Butastur teesa'') is a medium-sized hawk, distinct from the true buzzards in the genus ''Buteo'', found in South Asia. Adults have a rufous tail, a distinctive white iris, and a white throat bearing a dark mesial stripe ...

(''Butastur teesa''),

rufous-winged buzzard The rufous-winged buzzard (''Butastur liventer'') is an Asian bird of prey. It is a resident breeder of Indochina, Java and Sulawesi. It is a species of deciduous forest and second growth up to 800 m. The adult rufous-winged buzzard is 38–43& ...

(''Butastur liventer''), and grey-faced buzzard (''Butastur indicus'') all of which occur in Asia.

Description

The adult grasshopper buzzard is grey brown above with a darker head and dark shaft streaks on all of its feathers. The feathers of the mantle and lesser coverts are narrowly with fringed rufous in fresh plumage, although this wears off. The grey tail has faint brown bars. The greater coverts and primary feathers are light rufous, the primaries are tipped with black, and form a conspicuous reddish patch in flight. The

secondary feathers Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tail ...

are rufous shading to dark brown towards the tip, which is white. The chin and throat are whitish, with three black streaks on either side of throat. The breast is rufous and has narrow shaft streaks of black, the belly and thighs are also rufous but lack markings. The axillary feathers are greyish brown, spotted with white or buff. The under wing coverts and wing lining are white. The eyes, legs, and cere are yellow. The bill has a black tip and a yellow base. The female is slightly larger than the male. Juveniles have a bright brownish-red head and nape with dark shaft streaks, and as they age, the crown becomes the same colour as the back, the tail acquires bars, and the rufous edges on the mantle and coverts become less distinct. The length of the grasshopper buzzard is ; the wingspan: and the weight is for the males and for the females.

Habitat

Grasshopper buzzards usually frequent woodland and forest edges, and arid

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

savannahs. It also can be found in marshes’ edges and over burnt areas.

Distribution

Afrotropical. Senegal and

Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

east to Ethiopia, migrating south to Sierra Leone, Cameroon, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, and northern Tanzania.

Movements

The grasshopper buzzard is a partial migrant which moves south in the dry northern winter, i.e. September to March, and north again in summer with the rains, April to September to breed. In general, this species ranges between about 9-15° N when breeding, south to 5° N in the dry season, it only occurs south of the equator in eastern Africa. There is much local and even annual variation in distribution and abundance.

Biology

The grasshopper buzzard feeds mainly on insects although it will also take small birds, rodents and reptiles. It hunts from a low perch, looking for large insects, which are its main prey, catching them on the ground, or sometimes on the wing after a brief aerial chase. The grasshopper buzzard is quite sociable and is often seen in groups of 50 to 100 birds, most frequently in recently burnt areas where there are insect emergences. Grasshopper buzzards are specialists in catching

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

s during the non-breeding season; when breeding they consume a range of insects, mostly grasshoppers and beetles, also scorpions and sun spiders. The bulk of their breeding season diet is dominated by reptiles and other vertebrates: frogs, rodents, and birds are also regularly taken during this time. Breeding season for grasshopper buzzards is between March and May in the northern part of the range, but laying depends on the region. The nest is placed in a fork of tree, in low tree, or sometimes at about above the ground in taller trees. The nest is made with sticks, with a cup in the centre, lined with green leaves. One to three bluish-white eggs, with some dark markings, are laid. The details of the incubation and nesting behaviour are not known although fresh green leaves are added to the nest throughout the nesting period. Grasshopper buzzards occur at quite high densities with up to 3.3 nests per square kilometre and with distances between nests of less than in high-quality habitat. The home ranges overlap and birds regularly fly over neighboring territories on foraging flights.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q684838 grasshopper buzzard Birds of the Sahel Birds of prey of Sub-Saharan Africa grasshopper buzzard Taxonomy articles created by Polbot