Dwindling Plumage Diversity: Citizen Science Reveals Europe’s Common Buzzards Are Becoming More Uniformly Colored

Max Planck study finds common buzzards are becoming more uniform in color as intermediate birds thrive and dark and light populations decline across Europe.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 10, 2026, 12:38 PM EDT

Source: The information in this article was sourced from Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence

Source received: Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence - Europe's buzzards are losing their color diversity. Ready to edit.

1. HEADLINE

Dwindling Plumage Diversity: Citizen Science Reveals Europe’s Common Buzzards Are Becoming More Uniformly Colored

2. SUMMARY

A continent-wide study involving nearly 100,000 observations shows that the "variable buzzard" is losing its famous color range. Researchers found that intermediate-plumaged birds are increasingly dominating the population, while the proportions of exceptionally dark and light individuals have plummeted by 22% and 14% respectively since the start of the millennium.

3. CONTENT