Crested Honey Buzzard
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The crested honey buzzard (''Pernis ptilorhynchus'') is a
bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...
in the family
Accipitridae The Accipitridae () is one of the four families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds of prey with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects ...
, which also includes many other diurnal
raptor Raptor(s) or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of avian and non-avian dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunt ...
s such as
kite A kite is a tethered heavier than air flight, heavier-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create Lift (force), lift and Drag (physics), drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. Kites often have ...
s,
eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
s, and harriers. ''Pernis ptilorhynchus'' has six
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
. As a medium-sized raptor, their size ranges between . They are also known as the Oriental, Asiatic, or Eastern honey buzzard. The name is derived from its diet, which consists mainly of the larvae of bees and wasps extracted from honey combs. Crested honey buzzards migrate for breeding to Siberia and Japan during the summer. They then spend the winter in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. They are also a year-round resident in these latter areas. They prefer well-forested areas with open spaces and are found from sea level up to . Unusually for raptors, the sexes can be differentiated. The species has several adaptations for its specialist diet. These include an elongated head for foraging on underground nests and a groove in the tongue for extracting wasp grubs from their comb cells. A mass of short, dense feathers on the head and neck protect against stinging attacks by social wasps. Juveniles may have adopted
Batesian mimicry Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a predator of them both. It is named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, who worked on butt ...
to deter predators.


Taxonomy

The crested honey buzzard was obtained from the island of Java by the Dutch zoologist C.J. Temminck. He depicted and named it as ''Falco ptilorhynchus'' in March 1821. Temminck's later text description submitted to the ''Bibliothèque Nationale'' in July 1823 used the spelling ''ptilorhyncus''. Later, in 1839, Temminck used the spelling ''ptilorhynchus'' in the ''Tableau Méthodique''. Both Temminck's spellings have been used, for example Salim Ali used ''-cus'' while Grimmett and others used ''-chus''. Recently Dickinson and others have argued that the original spelling ''-chus'' must stand. The
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
Catalogue of Accipitres published in 1874 by R. Bowdler Sharpe lists the names ''Falco ptilorhynchus'' (attributed to Temminck, 1823) and ''Pernis ptilorhynchus'' (attributed to J.F. Stephens, 1826). Sharpe was perhaps unaware that Temminck's early illustrations had scientific names on the wrappers of the parts (
livraisons
') of his work and he cited Temminck's later works. In 1874, the British Museum had 18 specimens of the crested honey buzzard and its Catalogue listed nine different species names of genus ''Pernis'' for these. The crested honey buzzard (''Pernis ptilorhynchus'') includes six subspecies, which are shown in the table below. Despite its name, the crested honey buzzard is not related to ''Buteo''
buzzard Buzzard is the common name of several species of birds of prey. ''Buteo'' species * Archer's buzzard (''Buteo archeri'') * Augur buzzard (''Buteo augur'') * Broad-winged hawk (''Buteo platypterus'') * Common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') * Easte ...
s, and is taxonomically closer to the
kites A kite is a tethered heavier than air flight, heavier-than-air craft with wing surfaces that react against the air to create Lift (force), lift and Drag (physics), drag forces. A kite consists of wings, tethers and anchors. Kites often have ...
.


Description

About in size, the crested honey buzzard is a medium-sized
raptor Raptor(s) or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of avian and non-avian dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunt ...
. The head lacks a strong superciliary ridge, giving it a facial appearance very unlike a raptor. It appears long-necked with a small head resembling that of a pigeon. It has a long tail and a short head crest. It is brown above, but not as dark as the
European honey buzzard The European honey buzzard (''Pernis apivorus''), also known as the pern or common pern, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Taxonomy The European honey buzzard was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in ...
, and paler below. A dark throat stripe is present. Unusually for a large bird of prey, the sexes can be distinguished. The male has a blue-grey head with brown iris, while the female's head is brown and the iris is yellow. She is slightly larger and darker than the male. The male has two black bands in the tail and three black under wing bands, while the female has three black tail bands and four narrower black under wing bands. The juvenile has extensive black primary tips with narrower underwing bands. It has a yellow
cere The beak, bill, or Rostrum (anatomy), rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, wikt:grasp#Verb, grasping, and holding (in wikt:probe ...
at the base of the bill, and a dark iris. The colouration and the tail pattern of the species are highly variable. In flight, it is likely to be mistaken at a distance for the
short-toed snake-eagle The short-toed snake eagle (''Circaetus gallicus''), also known as the short-toed eagle, is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, buzzards and harriers. The genus na ...
. However, it can be distinguished by its slimmer head and longer neck. It is usually seen soaring singly or in pairs, or perched on a tree top. It is quiet even while nesting, sometimes uttering a single high-pitched screaming whistle. In flight it has deep elastic beats and high upstrokes. It glides and soars on flat or slightly arched wings at right angles to the body. The long broad wings are well rounded at six-fingered tips. The tail is broad, of medium length with a rounded tip. The tail is shorter than the breadth of the wing bases. The wing span is 2.4 times total length in the
Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...
(Eurasian) subspecies, but 2.0–2.2 in the Indo-Malayan subspecies. The similarity in plumage between juvenile crested honey buzzards and the ''
Nisaetus ''Nisaetus'', the crested hawk-eagles, is a genus of raptor in the subfamily Aquilinae, found mainly in tropical Asia. They were earlier placed within the genus '' Spizaetus'' but molecular studies show that the Old World representatives of tha ...
'' hawk-eagles may have arisen as a partial protection against predation by larger raptors. The eagles have stronger bills and talons, and are likely to be less vulnerable than the ''Pernis'' species. Similar mimicry is shown by the juvenile of the European honey buzzard, which resembles the
common buzzard The common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') is a medium-to-large bird of prey which has a large range. It is a member of the genus '' Buteo'' in the family Accipitridae. The species lives in most of Europe and extends its breeding range across much of ...
. Although the
Eurasian Goshawk The Eurasian goshawk (; ''Astur gentilis'', formerly ''Accipiter gentilis'') is a species of medium-large bird of prey in the Family (biology), family Accipitridae, a family which also includes other extant diurnal raptors, such as eagles, buzzar ...
is capable of killing both species, it is likely to be more cautious about attacking the better protected ''Buteo'' species. These are examples of
Batesian mimicry Batesian mimicry is a form of mimicry where a harmless species has evolved to imitate the warning signals of a harmful species directed at a predator of them both. It is named after the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates, who worked on butt ...
, named after the English naturalist and explorer H.W. Bates who first reported such mimicry in the context of ''
Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...
'' (moths and butterflies) in 1861.


Distribution and habitat

The crested honey buzzard is a summer migrant to
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
and
Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
,
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, wintering in tropical
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
and the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
. It leaves Siberia in late August and returns in May. The summer sojourn in Japan is April–May to mid-September. Elsewhere, it is more or less resident. Crested buzzards that migrate from breeding areas in Japan to wintering areas in Southeast Asia fly over the East China Sea. This nonstop flight over water is possible because during autumn, winds over the sea blow in the same direction as the birds' direction of flight (i.e. wind support). It has been recorded on the Alaskan island of Shemya. This record is the first known occurrence of this species in North America, and the individual photographed represents the subspecies ''P. p. orientalis.'' The crested honey buzzard prefers well-forested lowland and hilly areas that are broken by open glades. In South and Southeast Asia it is sometimes found in small groves near villages. It is found from sea level to , occasionally up to . During migrations it goes above .


Behaviour and ecology


Diet

The crested honey buzzard is a specialist feeder, living mainly on the
larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...
e of social bees and
wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...
s, and eating bits of comb and honey. It takes other small insect prey such as cicadas. It occasionally eats small birds, reptiles and frogs like other raptors.


Breeding

The crested honey buzzard breeds in
woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...
, and is inconspicuous except in the spring, when the mating display includes wing clapping. The display of roller coasting in flight and fluttering wings at the peak of the ascent are characteristic of the genus ''Pernis''. It is as yet uncertain whether the roller coaster display is related to courtship. The breeding season in the migratory range is June to mid-September for central Siberia and April to August in Japan. In India, it is April–June, though it starts in February in South India. The nest is a platform of sticks across, lined with dry or green leaves. It is located at a height of in conifers in the north, and in banyan, mango, casuarina or coconut in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. The female normally lays two eggs. The colour is variable, ranging from pale cream to chestnut brown. Incubation takes 4–5 weeks, the chicks are
fledge Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between egg, hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnera ...
d in 5–6 weeks and they become independent after a further 58 weeks. Male and female share the responsibilities of rearing the young.


Adaptations for diet

Unlike most of their relatives, crested honey buzzards prefer a diet of the larvae, pupae and honey combs of social wasps. In their summer breeding grounds in Japan, the birds dig up underground social wasp nests with their talons. The short toe depth and long talon on the second digit facilitate this behaviour. In addition, the long slender beak with a hooked tip, and the eyes set far back, are adaptations well suited for foraging in underground nests. The tongue has a groove adapted for extracting larvae from the honey comb. In the wintering regions in
South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...
, crested honey buzzards are observed attacking social wasp nests in trees. When foraging both underground and arboreal nests, the birds have to contend with stinging attacks by wasps. The
feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and an exa ...
s around the head and neck are well suited to repelling attacks. A study in 2016 by a British and a Japanese researcher compared the head and neck feathers of crested honey buzzards with those of the
black kite The black kite (''Milvus migrans'') is a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors. It is thought to be the world's most abundant species of Accipitridae, although some populations have ...
(''Milvus migrans'') and
grey-faced buzzard The grey-faced buzzard (''Butastur indicus'') is an Asian bird of prey. It is typically in length, making it a small-sized raptor. It breeds in Manchuria, Korea and Japan; it winters in South-east Asia. It is a bird of open land. It eats liza ...
(''Butastur indicus''). These are similar raptors, but only the honey buzzard forages on wasp nests. The researchers found significant adaptations of the feathers. The honey buzzard has a dense mat of short feathers under its beak, around its eyes and nostrils and on its neck with barbules closer together. They are stiffer with more hooks and nodes for barbules to attach to one another, yielding an armour like appearance. In the other kites, the feathers are longer and softer, with fewer barbules towards the tips. Thus, more of the skin is exposed. The head and neck feathers of the crested honey buzzard are shorter, being only 50–70% the length of the feathers in the other two species. The crested honey buzzard may have also evolved a chemical defense. Its feathers were observed to have a white filamentous covering that is not present in black kites and grey-faced buzzards. Videos indicate that social wasps attack
bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...
s and other
mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
s more than they attack honey buzzards. Experiments indicate that the substance from the wings of honey buzzards renders wasps inactive. However, this is as yet speculative and the composition of the substance is yet to be determined. In a wasp attack on two crested honey buzzards observed in Japan, the wasps mainly attacked the head and neck. Their stings were about in size. Most of the stings were embedded in the dense mat of feathers. A few stings pierced the skin where feathers were missing. Thus, the feather adaptations provided partial protection against wasp attacks.


Threats and conservation

The
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
status of the crested honey buzzard is
least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
. The bird is inconspicuous and may be undercounted, except during migration. Rough estimates of the population range from 100,000 to 1,000,000. As climate change affects wind conditions worldwide, the wind support for migration over the migratory pathway over the
East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...
could be reduced. Japanese researchers have developed a mathematical model to estimate the effect of climate change on the favourable winds over this section. They predict a slight reduction in the migratory areas due to this wind change effect by the middle of the 21st century and a complete loss of the migratory pathway by late in the century. The study does not consider possible behavioural adaptations of migratory birds which could possibly compensate for the changing wind patterns. On the positive side, the species appears to be adapting to the availability of anthropogenic habitats. It has colonized irrigated forest plantations in some areas of Pakistan. It has recently spread to the Middle East and regularly winters in small numbers in Arabia. These birds may be migrating from Siberia using a pathway over
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
and
Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...
that is west of the
Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...
. Falconry as a hobby in Indonesia started in the 1970s. As Facebook is popular in Indonesia, it is used for the illegal sale of raptors. Two studies of a number of Facebook groups were conducted during 2015. In both studies combined, the total number of birds offered for sale was about 10,000. The most popular raptors were black-winged kite and changeable hawk eagle, accounting for about 39% of the 10,000. In contrast, crested honey buzzards accounted for only about 1%.


In culture

In the island of Java in
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
, people living in or near forested areas suffer from attacks, sometimes fatal, by giant honey bees. The local people and honey collectors blame the honey buzzards for these attacks. This raptor attacks the nests of the giant honey bee. As it flies away with a piece of the honeycomb in its claws, it is pursued by angry bees. The local belief is that as its escape strategy the honey buzzard flies close to humans in the vicinity to transfer the attack of the angry bees to the humans. However, in a study of the hunting behaviour of honey buzzards conducted between 2003 and 2019, no evidence of this strategy was observed by the researchers. They surmised that a decline in the habitat due to human activity has increased the conflict between bees and humans.


References


External links


Image of Oriental Honey-buzzard attacking a bee hive, Taiwan, 2018
Bird Ecology Study Group (BESG),
National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...
. {{Taxonbar, from=Q605431
crested honey buzzard The crested honey buzzard (''Pernis ptilorhynchus'') is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal Bird of prey, raptors such as kite (bird), kites, eagles, and harrier (bird), harriers. ''Pernis ptilorhynchu ...
Birds of prey of Asia Birds of Manchuria Birds of Korea Birds of Japan Birds of Central China Birds of South Asia Birds of Bangladesh Birds of Southeast Asia
crested honey buzzard The crested honey buzzard (''Pernis ptilorhynchus'') is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal Bird of prey, raptors such as kite (bird), kites, eagles, and harrier (bird), harriers. ''Pernis ptilorhynchu ...
Taxa named by Coenraad Jacob Temminck