Taxonomic status of the Forest Buzzard Buteo oreophilus trizonatus

The Forest Buzzard Buteo oreophilus rizonatus, confined to the temperate coastal and escarpment forests of South Africa (Hockey et al. 2005), is often considered to be a subspecies of the Mountain Buzzard Buteo oreophilus of the forested highlands of East Africa, following Siegfried (1971) and Siegfried and Frost (1973). However, both taxa are largely resident, with breeding distributions separated by more than 2 000km, and there have been several calls for the two to be treated as distinct species (e.g. Amadon and Bull 1992, Kemp 1994, Clark and Davies 2000, Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001). James (1986) examined many specimens of both taxa and concluded: ‘On account of the great differences in plumages and few relative character similarities, oreophilus and trizonatus do not seem to be conspecific’. Sinclair and Ryan (2003) considered them as two species and correctly illustrated the differences in their plumages. Perhaps most convincingly, a study of the phylogeny of Old World Buteo, based on mitochondrial DNA sequences and structural analyses (Kruckenhauser et al. 2004), suggests that the two taxa are not monophyletic, with oreophilus closer to B. b. buteo and tr izonatus closer to B. b. vulpinus. This paper summarises differences in plumage and wing shape between the two taxa, based on observations of more than 30 individuals in the field in Kenya and South Africa (including several birds captured for ringing) and more than 100 museum specimens of each taxon. Mountain and Forest Buzzards are easily distinguished on plumage (Figures 1 to 8). Both taxa are monomorphic, with little individual variation. Juveniles are similar to their respective adults, but with pale eyes and typical juvenile buzzard tail patterns: brown with numerous equal-width dark brown bands. I found, in contrast to James (1986), that there is no discernable colour difference between the ceres and legs of the two taxa. The two taxa also differ in wing shape, with Mountain Buzzards having wider wings with more rounded wingtips (cf. Figures 3 and 7), as befitting their apparent separate origins from B. b. buteo and B. b. vulpinus.