The honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus) measures 52-59 cm and has a wingspan of 113-135 cm. The average female weighs 960 grams, the males 863 grams.
Honey Buzzards have a fairly small ash-gray head, yellow eyes and a long, slender neck. The slim black to gray hooked bill has narrow slit- and kidney like nostrils, as protection against sand while digging for wasp nests. In young birds the cere is yellow. The dig paws and claws are bald and leathery, yellow.
The wings are slightly bent downward in gliding flight. The top is variable usually light to dark brown. The underside is whitish with brown spots.
Distinction from the buzzard, the honey buzzard has two bands at the base and one near the end of its tail. The buzzard has 8 to 10 lines at regular intervals. The honey buzzard has a different call with high whistling and holds in flight his wings almost horizontally. The Buzzard holds the wings in the flight in a more shallow V- shape.
He hibernates in West Africa (Nigeria). They are only five months, from early May to late September here.
It breeds in woodland glades, usually on the waterfront, in a horst on 15-20 meters, preferably in Douglas fir or spruce.
The little nest is a loose structure that is created in a few days. He is the only bird of prey species with that exuberant foliage to make the nest. Old nests of other birds of prey and crows are also squatted.
Honey buzzards lay two yellow- white, almost entirely with dark purple - red or brown - red, clouded, spotted or swept with splashes covered eggs. The scale is fine, not shiny. Especially the female but also the male broods 30 to 35 days. The male stays near the nest.
The honey buzzard often delves to the flight paths of wasps, motionless in a tree. He seeks his food in line at distances of 1 to 3, up to 7 km from the nest. The plumage protects him from stabbing.
When excavating wasp and bumblebee nests the honey buzzard sometimes disappears completely into the ground. And yes, sometimes he is so surprised by a hawk and beaten.
Besides grubs and insects he 'd like some reptiles, amphibians and worms.