Steppe Buzzard
Buteo buteo vulpinus (Gloger, 1833)
Photo © By Charles J. Sharp - Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68145169
Sub-species
STATUS
North and eastern Europe and central Asia.
OVERVIEW
The 1864 Wiltshire was the only record admitted nationally (BOU 1971) and there it stayed until 2004 when a review was carried out, resulting in its deletion.
NOT PROVEN
0). 1830 Northumberland Bywell, immature male, obtained, undated, now at Great North Museum: Hancock, Necastle-upon-Tyne.
(J. H. Gurney, Ibis 1878: 118-119).
[H. F. Witherby, British Birds 14: 182-183; Not in BOU, 1971].
History J. H. Gurney (1878) in The Ibis, Vol. XX. pp. 118-119, in a Letter dated 24th Nov., 1877, says: 'During a recent visit to Newcastle I was enabled, through the kindness of Mr. Hancock, to examine two Buzzards which appear to me to be British-killed examples of Buteo desertorum. They are both in immature plumage, and remarkably resemble the dark-coloured phase of this Buzzard, of which specimens are occasionally sent to this country from Archangel. Both specimens are said to have been found to be males. One of the two was killed at Bywell, near Newcastle, in 1830, and is now in Mr. Hancock's collection; its principal measurements are - wing 14.2 inches, tarsus 2.8, middle toe s. u. 1.3. The other was obtained at Tynemouth in November 1870, and is preserved in the Newcastle Museum; its measurements are - wing 14.7 inches, tarsus 2.7, middle toe s. u. 1.4. I believe but one British specimen of this Buzzard has been previously recorded - that mentioned by Mr. Gould in his Birds of Great Britain, and referred to in The Ibis for 1876, p. 366.'
H. F. Witherby (1921) in British Birds, Vol. XIV. pp. 182-183, says: 'A male obtained at Bywell, near Newcastle, in 1830, and a male from Tynemouth, November 1870, were stated by the late J. H, Gurney (senr.) to have been of this form (Ibis, 1878, p. 118). By the kindness of Mr. E. Leonard Gill and the authorities of the Hancock Museum, Newcastle, we have been able to examine the Bywell specimen, but the Tynemouth bird Mr. Gill says he is unable to trace. The Bywell example is absolutely typical of Buteo b. buteo in colour, but the wing is very short, measuring only 355 mm. But the bird is in moult, and the fourth primary in each wing is only about a quarter grown and is hidden by the other feathers. In the Common Buzzard, although the third primary is sometimes as long as the fourth, it is sometimes as much as 15 mm. shorter. If 15 mm. is added to 355 we have 370, and considering also the worn state of the old third primary in this bird I think there can be no doubt that this is an example of the typical form Buteo b. buteo. The late J. H. Gurney was evidently misled by the size of the wing, and did not notice that the bird was moulting. At present, therefore, the inclusion of the Steppe Buzzard in the British List must rest upon the Wiltshire specimen of 1864.'
Comment Misidentified. Not acceptable.
0). 1864 Wiltshire Everleigh, shot, September, now at Natural History Museum (Reg No. 1881.5.1.4023).
(J. H. Gurney, Ibis 1876: 366; Gurney, 1876; J. H. Gurney, Ibis 1878: 118; Smart, 1886; Anon., Ibis 1923: 430-431; H. F. Witherby, British Birds 14: 182-183; Witherby, 1920-24; BOU, 1971).
[BOU, 1883; J. H. Gurney, jun., Ibis 1889: 574; Saunders, 1899; G. B. Hony, British Birds 7: 281; A. J. H. Harrop & M. Collinson, British Birds 96: 247-249, plates 183 & 184; BOURC (2004), Ibis 146: 192-195].
History J. H. Gurney (1876) in The Ibis, Vol. XVIII. p. 366, says: 'Mr. Gould, in the introduction to his magnificent work on the Birds of Great Britain, refers to a Buzzard of this species which was killed at Everley, Wiltshire, in September 1864. This specimen Mr. Gould kindly permitted me to examine, when it was in his custody, some years since; and there appeared to me to be no doubt of its being really B. desertorum in immature plumage.'
Gurney (1876: 142, 143) says: 'Desert Buzzard. Some time ago Mr. Gould lent me a specimen killed at Everly in Wiltshire in 1864. From a comparison with nine skins sent up from the Norwich Museum, my father was quite satisfied of its being correctly named.' However, it was not admitted by the BOU (1883) in their first List of British Birds.
Smart (1886: 11) says: 'Professor Newton says: "From information received from Mr. Gurney it appears that an example of Buteo desertorum (Daudin), a species of extensive southern and eastern range, has been killed in Wiltshire; but as yet no record of the fact seems to have been made public". Mr. J. H. Gurney writes in the Ibis for 1876 that Mr. Gould, in his introduction to his magnificent work on the Birds of Britain, "mentions a Buzzard (B. desertorum) which had been killed at Eversley, in Wiltshire, September, 1864. This specimen he kindly permitted me to examine when in his custody, some years since, and there appeared to me to be no doubt but that it was desertorum immature". Mr. Gurney also writes there are two which he considers British specimens; the Bywell bird of 1830, which is in Hancock's museum; and the Tynemouth bird of 1870, which is in the Newcastle museum.'
J. H. Gurney, jun., of Norwich (1889) in The Ibis, Vol. XXXI. pp. 574, dated 28th June 1889, says: '...In 1864 a Buzzard was killed in Wiltshire which so closely resembled Buteo desertorum (Daudin) that Mr. Gould and my father both decided it must be of that species. But after all, according to the theory now advanced, it may have been only B. vulgaris (Leach), a closely allied species and one which varies greatly. My father afterwards recorded two more specimens (Ibis, 1878, p. 118), killed in England, indistinguishable from B. desertorum....'
G. Bathurst Hony (1914) in British Birds, Vol. VII. p. 281, says: 'Since the appearance of the Rev. A. C. Smith's Birds of Wiltshire in 1887 many new county records have naturally occurred. I now propose to give the more interesting of those I have collected, some of which have been published before, but many of which are now published for the first time. Perhaps the presentation of these in a collected form may cause other records to be brought to light. Smith records the occurrence of 235 species, but he was too wont - to use his own words - to "give the prisoner the benefit of the doubt". For the present, the following nine species must be placed in brackets as being admitted on insufficient evidence, or not being genuine wild birds, though facts may come to light -which will put some of them on a sound footing....[Desert Buzzard (Buteo b. desertorum) was not admitted by Saunders (Manual, p. 322).]
H. F. Witherby (1921) in British Birds, Vol. XIV. pp. 182-183, says: 'This bird, which has been inappropriately termed, the African Buzzard and the Desert Buzzard, also (by Jerdon) the Harrier Buzzard, as well as more appropriately the Steppe Buzzard, was referred to in our Hand-List (1912) in a note, but should have been definitely included in the list. The specimen in the British Museum collection killed at Eversleigh (Wilts) in September 1864 by J. Clarke Hawkshaw and recorded by Gould (Birds of Great Britain, Vol. I. p. xxx.), has a good history, and is no doubt an example of this form.
Its upper-parts are broadly edged rufous, tail tinged rufous and under parts with the centres of the feathers brownish-rufous, under tail-coverts and axillaries barred rufous, the under-parts being more rufous than any example of Buteo b. buteo that I have seen. The bird is unsexed, but its measurements are small even for a male B. b. buteo, viz., wing 363 mm., tail 200, tarsus 76, bill 20. Other specimens in the British Museum, which Mr. H. Kirke Swann considers to be referable to this form or B. b. zimmermannae (Synop. List Accipitres, p. 44), are, I consider, B. b. buteo.'
Anon. (1923) in The Ibis, Vol. LXV. pp. 430-431, says: 'Its occurrence in the British Isles rests on one example obtained in Wiltshire in 1864, now in the Natural History Museum, and it should, therefore, be transferred from the appendix to the regular list.'
After a further review deletion of the species off the British list was recommended (BOURC (2004) Ibis 146: 192-195).
0). 1870 Northumberland Tynemouth, immature male, obtained, November, now at Great North Museum: Hancock, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
(J. H. Gurney, Ibis 1878: 118).
[H. F. Witherby, British Birds 14: 182-183; Not in BOU, 1971].
History J. H. Gurney (1878) in The Ibis, Vol. XX. pp. 118-119, in a Letter dated 24th Nov., 1877, says: 'During a recent visit to Newcastle I was enabled, through the kindness of Mr. Hancock, to examine two Buzzards which appear to me to be British-killed examples of Buteo desertorum. They are both in immature plumage, and remarkably resemble the dark-coloured phase of this Buzzard, of which specimens are occasionally sent to this country from Archangel. Both specimens are said to have been found to be males. One of the two was killed at Bywell, near Newcastle, in 1830, and is now in Mr. Hancock's collection; its principal measurements are-wing 14.2 inches, tarsus 2.8, middle toe s. u. 1.3. The other was obtained at Tynemouth in November 1870, and is preserved in the Newcastle Museum; its measurements are-wing 14.7 inches, tarsus 2.7, -middle toe s. u. 1.4. I believe but one British specimen of this Buzzard has been previously recorded - that mentioned by Mr. Gould in his Birds of Great Britain, and referred to in the Ibis for 1876, p. 366.'
H. F. Witherby (1921) in British Birds, Vol. XIV. pp. 182-183, says: 'A male obtained at Bywell, near Newcastle, in 1830, and a male from Tynemouth, November 1870, were stated by the late J. H, Gurney (senr.) to have been of this form (Ibis, 1878, p. 118). By the kindness of Mr. E. Leonard Gill and the authorities of the Hancock Museum, Newcastle, we have been able to examine the Bywell specimen, but the Tynemouth bird Mr. Gill says he is unable to trace.'
Not admitted nationally (BOU (1971).
