Augur Buzzard

The Ngorongoro Crater rim is the single best location, where they perch on cliff edges and viewpoint railings in plain sight. Arusha National Park and the highland roads between parks also produce regular sightings. They are less common in the low-altitude Serengeti and Tarangire but can appear along escarpments.

Rodents, hares, snakes, lizards, frogs and large insects. They are sit-and-wait hunters that drop from prominent perches onto prey detected by movement on the ground below. The Ngorongoro Crater rim's rich grassland supports a large rodent population that sustains a high density of breeding pairs.

Augur buzzards are in the family Accipitridae, the same family as eagles, hawks and kites. They are true buzzards in the genus Buteo, closely related to the common buzzard of Europe and the red-tailed hawk of North America. They are smaller and less powerful than most true eagles.

Some augur buzzards have an all-black body instead of the typical black-and-white pattern, while keeping the rufous tail. This is a natural colour variation within the species called a melanistic or dark morph. Both morphs can occur in the same population and even in the same breeding pair.

They have a wingspan of roughly 120 to 135 centimetres and weigh between 800 grams and 1.3 kilograms. Females are larger than males. They are medium-sized raptors, bigger than a kestrel but smaller than a martial eagle. Their size is well suited to the rodent and reptile prey they specialise in.

No. Augur buzzards are resident year round on their territories. Pairs hold the same cliff or hillside through all seasons, which makes them predictable to find. The Ngorongoro Crater rim birds are so habituated that they are visible on virtually every visit to the crater viewpoints.