The long-legged buzzard is, as is typical for "Buteo" and accipitrids, usually rather solitary outside of the pair bond. However, occasionally forms very loose breeding groups, at times several as close as or in the same crag. It is also slightly gregarious sometimes in passage in small groups, rarely traveling in large flocks. The long-legged buzzard’s aerial display similar but less well documented than that of the common buzzard. They tend to engage in mutual high circling, with both sexes diving at each other. Additionally, an impressive sky dance is sometimes undertaken by the male in which he circles before plunging on part closed wings, swooping up again, after which he may engage in tilting or even looping the loop at the zenith, drops nearly vertically, repeating dance one or more times. Territories are fairly large for long-legged buzzards. In Ukraine, there was an estimated per pair occupancy of about while in Kazakhstan, in an area of , there an estimated mean of 2.8 nesting pairs.