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Camera Traps Recorded Six Passerine Nest Raids by Male European Honey-buzzards

European honey-buzzard perched in woodland
Research · Ecology

European honey-buzzards (Pernis apivorus) were documented as active predators at passerine nests in the Voronezh Nature Reserve in Russia. The species is best known for locating nests of social wasps and other hymenopterans, but the new camera records show that it can also actively search for vertebrate prey in bird nests. Researchers used automatic cameras to follow the fate of 147 nests belonging to seven forest passerine species during 2024 and 2025.

Six of the identified nest predations involved honey-buzzards

Predators destroyed 85 of the 147 monitored nests. The predator could be identified in 48 cases, involving ten mammal and bird species. European honey-buzzards were recorded at six nests: two Eurasian blackbird (Turdus merula) nests, two common chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) nests, one Eurasian blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) nest and one hawfinch nest. Thus, honey-buzzards accounted for six of the 48 depredations with an identified predator — about 12.5% — and 4.1% of all 147 monitored nests.

Most attacks targeted nests with nestlings

The honey-buzzards mainly attacked nests containing nestlings. They either ate the young at the nest or carried them away. The six recorded attacks occurred between 14 May and 1 June, when European honey-buzzards were only beginning their own breeding season while many forest passerines were already feeding young.

All of the documented honey-buzzard attacks were made by males. The authors conclude that the species actively searches for bird nests in a manner comparable to how it locates nests of social wasps and other hymenopterans, showing that vertebrate prey can supplement a diet otherwise strongly associated with social wasps and other hymenopterans.

Sources and image credit

  1. Shevchenko, V. S., & Vengerov, P. D. (2026). The European honey buzzard Pernis apivorus (Linnaeus, 1758) is an active nest predator of forest passerine birds. Nauka Yuga Rossii, 22(2), 122–128. https://doi.org/10.7868/S25000640260216Primary 2026 research article. Automatic cameras monitored 147 passerine nests in the Voronezh Nature Reserve in 2024–2025. European honey-buzzards were recorded raiding six nests, mainly nests with nestlings, and all documented attacks were by males.

Image: European honey-buzzard, photographed 25 May 2022. Representative image; not a bird from the Voronezh study. Photo: Andy Morffew / Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0. · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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