Honey Buzzard
The Honey Buzzard is a raptor which belongs to the family Accipitridae. It feeds on insects, even if in winter it can hunt small reptiles and amphibians, eggs, small birds and mammals. It also loves honey. Its plumage is variable with three characteristic dark strip on the tail. This bird is migratory and nesting. It can be found in the Alps arch, on the North Apennines and in smaller numbers in the south. The population in Italy is around 600-1000 couples. According to the regional Atlas of Nesting birds (Fraissinet and Kalby, 1989) and some of later researches (Fraissinet et al. 2006), the honey buzzard nests in the Matese, in the Partenio and maybe in the Alburni Mountais and in Irpinia. It is not excluded it can even nests in the Monti Lattari Regional Park.
It build its nest on big threes. Most likely this spieces has suffered from the deforestation, from the transformation of the agriculture and from poaching. The local Corps of forest rangers every spring is engaged in the protection of birds from poaching, with a special operation called “Operazione Adorno”.
Photo gallery
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Notes
Alessandro Minelli, La fauna in Italia, Bologna, Calderini (1979)