23th February we saw a very early Honey Buzzard at the IBRCE. When I saw the bird I thought it might have been a 2nd cy bird but I wasn't sure and didn't think about it more and forgot the whole thing. I thought that nobody of us took any photos of this bird since last week when I found one photo of the bird from my Dutch friend Fabian Meijer's blog. The photo shows bird to be clearly a 2nd cy Honey Buzzard!! Maybe the rarest bird in Eilat this spring..
There are only very few documented records of young Honey Buzzards in Europe. I don't know how many confirmed records there are in Israel but I guess not too many. Normally these young ones don't reach Europe during their 1st summer. This bird is also very special because of the exceptionally early date. The age of the bird is confirmed by Dick Forsman. Thanks Fabian for the photos!
Honey Buzzard, 23.2.2011 Eilat. © Fabian Meijer
