The European honey buzzard is known in
Maltese as kuċċarda. It is a
migratory raptor seen in over Malta in spring and autumn as it soars on its
broad wings by using the hot air currents, known as thermals to sustain an
effortless flight that takes it from one continent to another.
Three species of honey buzzard exist. The
crested honey buzzard (also known as Oriental honey buzzard) breeds in Asia from central Siberia east to Japan and winters in South East Asia. The
barred honey buzzard is resident in lowland and montane forests in Indonesia and the Philippines .
Our honey buzzard is found breeding in
forests from south west Europe north to Scandinavia and east into Russia. All
populations are fully migratory and spend the winter in tropical Africa. Honey
buzzards use the earth’s magnetic field as
well as visual memory to find their way from their breeding areas to
their wintering grounds and vice versa. They avoid flying over large tracts of
water as these do not allow the formation of thermals.
Honey buzzards feed mostly on the larvae
and nests of wasps and hornets. They also prey on small mammals, reptiles and
birds. Opening up a wasps’ nest and tearing it apart to get at the larvae can
be a painful affair but it is believed that honey buzzards have a chemical
deterrent in their feathers which stops wasps from attacking them.
Broad winged raptors chose migratory routes
that do not require large sea crossings. Hundreds of thousands of birds of prey
from continental Europe can be seen at the Straits of Gibraltar and over the
Straits of Bosporus in Istanbul as they migrate across the narrow straits.
Smaller numbers of raptors cross between
Europe and Africa via the central Mediterranean from Sicily to Tunisia. Many of
these birds pass over the Maltese Islands to where they find more thermals that
allow them to gain height and continue their journey.
Watching migrating honey buzzards in the
Maltese islands can be an unforgettable experience. In autumn their migration
usually reaches a peak during the third or fourth week of September and on good
days up to five hundred honey buzzards together with other birds of prey can be
counted over Buskett Gardens. To add to the spectacle, when the air starts to
cool and the hot air currents disappear, birds that arrive late in the afternoon
fly down to land in the trees where they then spend the night.
This article was published in The Times of Malta on 18 September 2014.
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