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6

Black-breasted Buzzard (Hamirostra melanosternon) Alternate name(s): "Black-breasted Kite" Aboriginal name(s): "koodap" (WA) Size: 50-60 cm; wing span 1.4-1.55 m Weight: 1.2 kg (male), 1.4 kg (female); averages

Australia: Family Group 6 Family Group 6 Table Osprey Brahminy Kite Whistling Kite Little Eagle Black Kite Square-tailed Kite Black-breasted Buzzard Wedge-tailed Eagle White-bellied Sea-Eagle Spotted Harrier Swamp Harrier Black-shouldered Kite Letter-winged Kite Pacific Baza Collared Sparrowhawk Brown Goshawk Grey Goshawk Red Goshawk Nankeen Kestrel Australian Hobby Peregrine Falcon Brown Falcon Grey Falcon Black Falcon Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names Habitat pages Key plants Birds home page

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Black-breasted Buzzards are medium-sized raptors with a dark-brown overall appearance. Only the nape of the neck, the vent, and the edges of the upperwing feathers are light-brown. When seen from underneath, the most conspicuous feature are the translucent wing panels at the base of the primaries, whose tips are black. Bill, legs and feet are grey. Juvenile Black-breasted Buzzards are rufous-brown, rather than dark-brown, with light-grey secondary flight feathers.

Taxonomy, classification See Black-breasted Buzzard at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Black-breasted Buzzard is available HERE . NB: Reports on ebird of birds submitted by birdwatchers from the Australian Outback tend to be clustered along roads and public areas such as camp grounds; in such cases their distribution is not a good representation of the overall distribution of the species. Black-breasted Buzzards are endemic to Australia. They can be found mainly in the tropical North of Australia and in the semi-arid interior to the North of about Lake Eyre, with a boundary north-westward towards Uluru, continuing to somewhere to the South of Broome, WA, and north-eastward towards St. George in southern QLD. Other than that, there are only a few patches where they have been found in South-East Australia and along the WA West coast, from about Geraldton to Exmouth and a few hundred km inland from that coastal stretch. In the interior of the continent Black-breasted Buzzards have a preference for scrubland. In the North they are found primarily in riparian and tropical woodland.

Sightings Click here for sighting information A Black-breasted Buzzard was first spotted by us in the wetlands of Capricorn Resort, Yeppoon, in July 2009. Special access to the wetlands kindly granted by the owners of Capricorn Resort is most gratefully acknowledged. A single Black-breasted Buzzard was spotted on the Paroo River, about 50 km North of Wanaaring, NSW, in September 2012. B. Hensen reports spotting Black-breasted Buzzards at Bowra, QLD, in October 2012. H. Mouritsen reports spotting a Black-breasted Buzzard between Pine Creek and Darwin, NT, in October 2015. M. Mearns spotted a Black-breasted Buzzard at Innamincka NP, SA, in July 2006. B. Hensen reports spotting Black-breasted Buzzards in several locations in the Top End of the NT, where they are more common inland than near the coastline. M. Eaton reports finding a Black-breasted Buzzard at the Musgrave Roadhouse, Cape York peninsula, QLD, in August 2019. Another was found at Thargomindah, QLD, in June 2020. M. Eaton also found a Black-breasted Buzzard at Timber Creek, NT, in July 2020. P. Brown found a Black-breasted Buzzard at the Oolloo Road crossing of the Daly River, NT, in August 2021.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

Lateral view of a Black-breasted Buzzard (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Timber Creek, NT, July 2020]

Close-up near-lateral/ventral view of a soaring Black-breasted Buzzard (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Oolloo Road crossing, Daly River, NT, August 2021]

Near-lateral/ventral view of a soaring Black-breasted Buzzard; note the characteristic prominent, semi-translucent white wing panels
[Near Wanaaring, NSW, September 2012]

Lateral/ventral view of a soaring Black-breasted Buzzard
[Near Wanaaring, NSW, September 2012]

Lateral/ventral view of a soaring Black-breasted Buzzard (photo courtesy of P. Brown)
[Oolloo Road crossing, Daly River, NT, August 2021]

Lateral/ventral view of a Black-breasted Buzzard looking down on the observer (photo courtesy of M. Mearns)
[Innamincka NP, SA, July 2006]

Distant lateral/ventral view of a Black-breasted Buzzard in flight (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Leaning Tree Lagoon, Adelaide River floodplain, NT, November 2018]

Dorsal/ventral view of a Black-breasted Buzzard in flight
[Near Wanaaring, NSW, September 2012]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Near-lateral view of a juvenile Black-breasted Buzzard (photo courtesy of B. Hensen)
[Bowra, QLD, October 2012]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Territorial

Mobility: Dispersive

Elementary unit: Solitary/pair

Food, Diet

The Black-breasted Buzzard is known for a special skill - it can use a rock to crack open an Emu egg, as shown in this photo sequence (of a bird in captivity). All photos have kindly been contributed by A. Ross-Taylor.

Black-breasted Buzzard presented with the challenge of opening an Emu egg, looking around for a suitable tool
(photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)

Black-breasted Buzzard with a rock as its tool to crack open an Emu egg (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)

Black-breasted Buzzard with a rock as its tool to crack open an Emu egg (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)

Upward acceleration... (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)

... and hit the target - dinner time! (photo courtesy of A. Ross-Taylor)

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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Disclaimer: Comments are always welcome. We give no guarantee that the information presented on these pages is always correct or up-to-date. External links are marked as such and we take no responsibility for the contents of external pages. All images on this site are protected by copyright & used by permission of the respective owners. If you wish to reproduce them or any of the material presented on this web site, please contact us: We hereby acknowledge the original custodians of the land which is described on these pages, including the Gomeroi/Gamilaraay people of the North-west Slopes and Plains of NSW, and the traditional owners of other lands and nations within this country. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.          Last updated: Sat, 21 August 2021, 4:13 +00:00