Crested honey buzzard

The crested honey buzzard was obtained from the island of Java by the Dutch zoologist C.J. Temminck. He depicted and named it as Falco ptilorhynchus in March 1821. The British Museum Catalogue of Accipitres published in 1874 by R. Bowdler Sharpe lists the names Falco ptilorhynchus (attributed to Temminck, 1823) and Pernis ptilorhynchus (attributed to J.F. Stephens, 1826). Sharpe was perhaps unaware that Temminck's early illustrations had scientific names on the wrappers of the parts (livraisons) of his work and he cited Temminck's later works. In 1874, the British Museum had 18 specimens of the crested honey buzzard and its Catalogue listed nine different species names of genus Pernis for these. The crested honey buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus) includes six subspecies, which are shown in the table below. Despite its name, the crested honey buzzard is not related to Buteo buzzards, and is taxonomically closer to the kites. ==Description==

, Tamil Nadu, India About in size, the crested honey buzzard is a fairly large The colouration and the tail pattern of the species are highly variable. In flight, it is likely to be mistaken at a distance for the short-toed snake-eagle. However, it can be distinguished by its slimmer head and longer neck. It is usually seen soaring singly or in pairs, or it may be perched on a tree top. It is quiet even while nesting, sometimes uttering a single high-pitched screaming whistle. These are examples of Batesian mimicry, named after the English naturalist and explorer H.W. Bates who first reported such mimicry in the context of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) in 1861. ==Distribution and habitat==

The crested honey buzzard is a summer migrant to Siberia and Korea, Japan, wintering in tropical Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. It leaves Siberia in late August and returns in May. The summer sojourn in Japan is April–May to mid-September. In Europe, the crested honey buzzard has been documented in Italy in 2011, in Cyprus in 2012, at the Strait of Messina, and in Lesvos, Greece in 2018. Oriental Honey Buzzard Pernis ptilorhynchus by Dr. Raju Kasambe DSCN9254 (1).jpg|P. p. ruficollisMaharashtra, India Crested honey-buzzard (Pernis Ptilorhynchus orientalis) in flight Qianshan.jpg|P. p. orientalisYangmingshan, Taiwan It has been recorded on the Alaskan island of Shemya. This record is the first known occurrence of this species in North America, and the individual photographed represents the subspecies P. p. orientalis. The crested honey buzzard prefers well-forested lowland and hilly areas that are broken by open glades. In South and Southeast Asia it is sometimes found in small groves near villages. It is found from sea level to , occasionally up to . During migrations it goes above . ==Behaviour and ecology==

Diet in Kaohsiung, Taiwan The crested honey buzzard is a specialist feeder, living mainly on the larvae of social bees and wasps, and eating bits of comb and honey. It occasionally eats small birds, reptiles and frogs like other raptors. The breeding season in the migratory range is June to mid-September for central Siberia and April to August in Japan. In India, it is April–June, though it starts in February in South India. The tongue has a groove adapted for extracting larvae from the honey comb. In the wintering regions in South Asia, crested honey buzzards are observed attacking social wasp nests in trees. When foraging both underground and arboreal nests, the birds have to contend with stinging attacks by wasps. The feathers around the head and neck are well suited to repelling attacks. A study in 2016 by a British and a Japanese researcher compared the head and neck feathers of crested honey buzzards with those of the black kite (Milvus migrans) and grey-faced buzzard (Butastur indicus). These are similar raptors, but only the honey buzzard forages on wasp nests. The researchers found significant adaptations of the feathers. The honey buzzard has a dense mat of short feathers under its beak, around its eyes and nostrils and on its neck with barbules closer together. They are stiffer with more hooks and nodes for barbules to attach to one another, yielding an armour like appearance. In the other kites, the feathers are longer and softer, with fewer barbules towards the tips. Thus, more of the skin is exposed. The head and neck feathers of the crested honey buzzard are shorter, being only 50–70% the length of the feathers in the other two species. The crested honey buzzard may have also evolved a chemical defense. Its feathers were observed to have a white filamentous covering that is not present in black kites and grey-faced buzzards. Videos indicate that social wasps attack bears and other mammals more than they attack honey buzzards. Experiments indicate that the substance from the wings of honey buzzards renders wasps inactive. However, this is as yet speculative and the composition of the substance is yet to be determined. In a wasp attack on two crested honey buzzards observed in Japan, the wasps mainly attacked the head and neck. Their stings were about in size. Most of the stings were embedded in the dense mat of feathers. A few stings pierced the skin where feathers were missing. Thus, the feather adaptations provided partial protection against wasp attacks. ==Threats and conservation==

The IUCN status of the crested honey buzzard is least concern. The bird is inconspicuous and may be undercounted, except during migration. Rough estimates of the population range from 100,000 to 1,000,000. On the positive side, the species appears to be adapting to the availability of anthropogenic habitats. It has colonized irrigated forest plantations in some areas of Pakistan. It has recently spread to the Middle East and regularly winters in small numbers in Arabia. These birds may be migrating from Siberia using a pathway over Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan that is west of the Himalayas. Falconry as a hobby in Indonesia started in the 1970s. As Facebook is popular in Indonesia, it is used for the illegal sale of raptors. Two studies of a number of Facebook groups were conducted during 2015. In both studies combined, the total number of birds offered for sale was about 10,000. The most popular raptors were black-winged kite and changeable hawk eagle, accounting for about 39% of the 10,000. In contrast, crested honey buzzards accounted for only about 1%. ==In culture==

In the island of Java in Indonesia, people living in or near forested areas suffer from attacks, sometimes fatal, by giant honey bees. The local people and honey collectors blame the honey buzzards for these attacks. This raptor attacks the nests of the giant honey bee. As it flies away with a piece of the honeycomb in its claws, it is pursued by angry bees. The local belief is that as its escape strategy the honey buzzard flies close to humans in the vicinity to transfer the attack of the angry bees to the humans. However, in a study of the hunting behaviour of honey buzzards conducted between 2003 and 2019, no evidence of this strategy was observed by the researchers. They surmised that a decline in the habitat due to human activity has increased the conflict between bees and humans. ==References==