European Honey Buzzard

European Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus) is a long-winged raptor with a small head, long barred tail and highly variable brown plumage. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It breeds in Europe and western Asia, migrates to Africa for winter and feeds mainly on the nests, larvae and pupae of social wasps, which it digs from the ground. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. The Korean vertebrate catalogue used for this guide records the species in South Korea (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Korea occurrence records).