German Raptor?

[Paul Lagasi]

This image was taken in central Germany this August, not a great image but I was looking for Id. I am thinking Honey Buzzard because of the yellow cere and dark eye, and body pattern..but really just a guess. Thanks .... sorry about the crappy photo but it was a long way off.

[Isaac Green]

It looks a lot like a Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo, to me. It is basically Europe's Red Tailed Hawk without the red tail. If you said this picture was taken in the US, everyone would probably come up with dark juvenile red tail as the ID. That is one of the clues for me to think B. Buteo. I am not familiar enough with the Honey Buzzard to be certain about the differential ID, but the description says they mimic B. buteo, but tend to have a longer tail with less stripes. Yours shows uniform banding, so appears more consist with the common buzzard.

[John Chardine]

Hi Paul- For what it's worth, here's a Common Buzzard from Crete, 24 September.

[john jackson]

As Isaac said, this is Common Buzzard. Honey Buzzard is not a Buteo and has a different structure (protruding head, longer tail).

[John Chardine]

Good point John. There appear to be only three species of honey-buzzards recognised in the world and they specialise in feeding on wasp larvae. They are all classified in the genus Pernis. They are certainly different-looking hawks (as we would call them in North America).