All Notes submitted to British Birds are subject to independent review, either by the Notes Panel or by the BB Editorial Board.Those considered appropriate for BB will be published either here or on our website (www.britishbirds.co.uk) subject to the availability of space.During spring migration, it is widely recognised that among long-distance migrants, juveniles migrate later than adults (e.g. Kerlinger 1989). While the majority of second-calendar-year (2nd-cy) Honey-buzzards Pernis apivorus spend the northern summer in Africa (Forsman 1999), some individuals do reach Europe (Ferguson-Lees & Christie 2001), although their occurrence is poorly documented. In recent years, observations have established that small numbers of 2nd-cy birds enter Europe via southern Italy. For example, Panuccio et al. (2004) observed the passage of tens of juveniles across the central Mediterranean via the island of Ustica, southern Italy. In this region, however, the greatest concentration of migrant Honey-buzzards occurs at the Strait of Messina, between southern Italy and Sicily (Zalles & Bildstein 2000; Agostini 2002). In 2004, a study was undertaken, between 27th April and 31st May, to establish whether 2nd-cy Honey-buzzards were also using this route to enter Europe. 2nd cy summer [captive birds] had a yellow cere with darker spots and the eyes were turning yellow, appearing pale from a distance'. In this study, only those individuals which showed the plumage characters, and both yellow cere and dark iris, where considered to be in their 2nd cy. Other individuals resembling juveniles were excluded where either the yellow cere or dark iris was not