Long-winged Harrier (Circus buffoni)

Identification & Behavior: ~51.5 cm (20.3 in). The adult Long-winged Harrier is mostly blackish with white underparts. The female is mostly gray with pale underparts and dusky streaks on the breast. The dark morph is all black with a chestnut belly. The juvenile is similar to the female with gray and rusty on the back.  It does not show a white patch on the base of the tail. It is structurally similar to the Cinereous Harrier, but their ranges do not overlap in Peru.

Status: The Long-winged Harrier is a rare visitor to extreme southeast Peru. The few records of this species in Peru are from the Department of Madre de Dios. All records seem to be constrained to the Austral winter. It also occurs in Co, Br, Bo, and Ch.

Name in Spanish: Aguilucho de Ala Larga.

Sub-species: Long-winged Harrier (Circus buffoni), J. F. Gmelin 1788.

Meaning of Name: Circus: Gr. mythical falcon quoted by many classic authors.  buffoni: eponymous named after George-Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), French naturalist director of the Jardin du Roi in Paris.

See more of the Family Accipitridae