Augur Buzzard

Buteo augur

Other Names

  Jackal Buzzard   Buse augure   Augurbussard   Busardo Augur Oriental   Spåvråk, Augurvråk   Augurbuizerd   Poiana augure

World: Afrotropical from the Eastern and Southern Central areas of the continent including Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia (extreme NW) through the highlands of East Africa down to eastern Zaire.

Kenya: The distribution in Kenya (primarily W of 39°E) represents the eastern limit of its range.

This is a common raptor in open land and cultivated areas above 1000m. Its diet consists mainly of lizards, snakes, rodents and insects as well as carrion (the bird pictured above was "stealing" from local farmers). Prey is normally identified from a perch although it will also hunt while in flight. It is a very distinctive bird particularly in flight where its short, rufous tail easily identifies it. The sexes are very similar with the females being distinguished by having black a black chin and throat (as in the above picture). However dark morphs are quite common (they may make up 10% of the Kenyan population) and in these birds the underside is wholly black with the sexes showing similar colouration.