Honey Buzzard

(Above) Seen near Lucknow , Uttar Pradesh , India (Above) Seen near Raibareilly, Uttar Pradesh , India

(Above) Katernighat , Uttar Pradesh , India

(Above) Katerniaghat , Uttar Pradesh , India

The Oriental Honey Buzzard is one of the most frequent encountered raptor after the Black Kite , for me. Either I am able to identify them easily because of the prominent grey head or they are present in reasonable numbers , is a question for which I do not have an answer.

My list of encounters include five birds seen in Katerniaghat in May 2008 , one that was sighted 9 kms after Raibareilly on the Allahabad Road in March 2008 , where a large marsh is present or the most recently on 20.07.08 , a sighting near the Indira Barrage in Lucknow where for the first time the bird was caught on camera with a honeycomb in its claws. This sighting was a confirmatory record that the bird fees on bees , larve and honeycombs