Help ID, unknown raptor in South Africa

Hi fellow birders/birdtographers​,

A while back I was in South Africa (January) and visiting all kinds of gorgeous places. Whilst in the Bontebok Nature Park near Swellendam I spotted this raptor sitting on a telephone wire.

Anyone know what it is ? It was shot with my Canon 40D (soon for sale) and the 24-105mm f4 from the car.

The steppe eagle has a solid colored breast, even the juvies. I'd be thinking more of a juvie black kite.

I wasn't thinking of a Steppe EAGLE, as that would surely have been much larger even as a juv. and I'm not sure it frequents S.A. ? I'm thinking Buzzard types, maybe a large hawk but it seems to "solid/chunky" for that...

BTW, brilliant shots of Botswana/SA birds on your site. Did you hire any lenses for that trip, or were they all 100-400mm ?

I am pretty sure that this is the Steppe Buzzard.

Thanks billycan, that would be great as I've not marked it as a new species. Do you think juv. or adult ?

One thing to go by is that "adults have dark brown eyes and immatures have light, biscuit coloured-eyes". Ref Southern African Birds - A Photographic Guide by Ian Sinclair and Ian Davidson. The "pale zone accross the breast" is a diagnostic feature and based on your image, my guess is that this is an adult Steppe Buzzard.

heladepela wrote in post #8328994
I wasn't thinking of a Steppe EAGLE, as that would surely have been much larger even as a juv. and I'm not sure it frequents S.A. ? I'm thinking Buzzard types, maybe a large hawk but it seems to "solid/chunky" for that...

Size is hard to tell from the image, and you folks and we folks don't use the term buzzard the same way, I think!

heladepela wrote in post #8328994
BTW, brilliant shots of Botswana/SA birds on your site. Did you hire any lenses for that trip, or were they all 100-400mm?

Thanks! The 100-400 was hired for that trip -- I didn't even have a dSLR until about three weeks before the trip. I bought my own 100-400 after I got back.

Yes, that is a Steppe Buzzard (Buteo buteo). We have plenty here where I live.

You usually see them more in the Summer months (Dec-Feb) as they do not really like the cold.

Thanks for confirming everyone, that's a new species for my list. I saw a few of these whilst driving, but was never 100% sure in ID'ing as I also needed to concentrate on the road

Krypty you mention the latin name for the Eurasian Buzzard to my knowledge... And having checked Wikipedia, I find that the S.A. Steppe Buzzard (Buteo Buteo Vulpinus) is actually a subspecies of our Buzzard (Buteo Buteo). Hmmm, interesting, will not be counting it as a "proper" species, it'll get added to my sub-species list instead. Learned something new today