This was one of the most common raptors in the area. This species occurs in two color morphs. About 10% are reported to be dark morph such as this, but in some wetter areas the percentage may be much higher. Unlike some hawks, there are no intermediate morphs. They are either light or dark. All adults have a very short red tail.
Some authors lump the Augur Buzzard with Archer's Buzzard (B. archeri) of northern Somalia considering it to be a rufous morph of Augur. However such a relationship is not supported by genetic studies (Riesing et al 2003). Formerly Augur Buzzard was lumped with the Jackal Buzzard (B. rufofuscus) of Southern Africa. Current thinking is that all three may form a superspecies.
Reference: Riesing et al. 2003. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 27:328-342 [PDF]
Camera notes: I bought the Nikon P510 ultra-zoom specifically for this trip. I much prefer digiscoping, but we were usually not allowed out of our safari vehicles, and setting up a tripod and spotting scope was impractical. While this camera zooms up to 42X, it does not work particularly well at the highest magnifications. Most successful photos were taken with a lower zoom setting. This camera has a very finicky auto-focus which rarely worked well at the highest magnifications. There is a manual focus mode, but it is much too slow for most bird photography. Furthermore, I had the camera lock up at least three times for no apparent reason. I needed to re-insert the battery to reboot it. As expected, most photos taken at the highest magnifications appear somewhat grainy when displayed at high resolution, and color depth was not particularly satisfying. The built-in GPS seemed to trigger less than about 10% of the time, possibly because the safari vehicles are covered and may block the satellite signals.
Nikon P510 Point & Shoot.