BirdLife Malta birdwatchers, who monitor daily the autumn raptor migration from Buskett Raptor Watch Point, were ecstatic on Tuesday after they spotted and identified an adult female Oriental Honey-buzzard flying overhead among a couple of the expected and regular European Honey-buzzards.

“The bird gave excellent views, enabling all diagnostic features of this species to be observed, and giving a unique opportunity to our photographers to take photos of this very rare species,” BirdLife Malta said.

It added that once accepted by the Malta Rarities and Records Committee, “this constitutes the first record ever for the Maltese Islands.”

Oriental Honey-buzzard breeds from Western Siberia eastwards to North Eastern China, Japan, and Korea, with most birds wintering in South-East Asia and the Indonesian Islands.

BirdLife Malta explained that a few migrate through the Middle East each autumn and spring but are extremely rare in the Central Mediterranean flyway, with only one accepted record in Italy way back in May 2011 in Calabria.

Photo: BirdLife Malta/Aron Tanti

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