The Long-winged Harrier is a raptor of the South American grasslands including the Pantanal where we saw ours. The latin name sounds ridiculous. Circus refers to the tendency for these birds of the open grasslands to fly around in circles looking for small mammals or other prey so I suppose that part of it makes sense. The species binomial of buffoni is a patrynomic based on the Compte de Buffon, but in Italian it means clown which isn't really appropriate for this species. There is nothing funny about these beautiful long-winged hunters.
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