📸 PhotoPhoto: Timothy A. Gonsalves · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Crested Honey Buzzard
Pernis ptilorhynchus (Crested Honey Buzzard · ハチクマ)
🇰🇷 Class II endangered wildlife (Korea)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its English name 'honey buzzard' comes from its fondness for bee larvae and honey.
- 💡 Its weight of 1.49 kg is similar to a 1.5 L bottle of water (Comparison).
- 💡 Its wingspan of 1.55 m is similar to the height of an adult human (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Crested Honey Buzzard is a medium-sized bird of prey fond of bee and wasp larvae; it lives widely across Asia and is a passage migrant passing through Korea in spring and autumn.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
It has scale-like feathers around the eyes, very narrow slit-like nostrils, and long toes, well suited for digging up and eating wasp nests.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It digs up underground wasp nests with its bill and feet to eat the larvae, pupae, and adults of ground wasps, and also catches lizards, frogs, small mammals, and birds. It builds a stick nest high in a tall tree and lays 1–2 white eggs.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
In Korea, it is Class II endangered wildlife (Korea), a passage migrant seen in large numbers in spring and autumn with few breeding records.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2021) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22694995/199637824
- • 멸종위기 야생생물 Ⅱ급 — 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000001583 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000001583
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • Korean protection status: Class II endangered wildlife (Korea)
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 199637824
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000001583 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000001583
- • wikidata.org — Q605431
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Oriental honey buzzard Mudumalai Mar21 DSC01405.jpg
- • peregrinefund.org — oriental-honey-buzzard-0
- • nie.re.kr — enspc06003v.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Andy Wilson · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Pernis apivorus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.