About Buteo auguralis Salvadori, 1865
The red-necked buzzard (Buteo auguralis Salvadori, 1865) is a medium-sized bird of prey. It has a distinctive rufous neck, and this rufous color extends up over the crown and down onto the upper back. Most of the rest of the upperparts are blackish, except for the rufous upper tail feathers which have a black subterminal bar. The underparts are mainly white, other than a dark throat and dark blotches that extend along the flanks. Juveniles resemble adult red-necked buzzards, but they have browner upperparts, creamy underparts instead of white, and do not have a dark throat. This species is found across a broad range: it occurs in a band that runs from Mauritania south to Liberia, then east to Ethiopia and Uganda, and also south along the Gulf of Guinea coast through Gabon to the Democratic Republic of Congo and north-eastern Angola. The red-necked buzzard is a partial migrant. Northern populations may be fully migratory, leaving the savanna after the rains and spending the dry season further south, along the edge of the main forest zone. It prefers forest edges and clearings, including those within both secondary and primary forests. It can also be found in cultivated areas, and is generally absent from the main expanses of lowland rainforest. It occurs up to an altitude of 2,500 metres.
