The Common Buzzard

The Common Buzzard

Image Source:  

"Buteo buteo -Netherlands-8" by Arend from Oosterhout, Netherlands - 

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1. The Common Buzzard has a large range covering most of Europe to Russia, Turkey and the northern tip of Africa. In winter some subspecies migrate to Africa and Asia.  In the United States, many members of the Buteo genus are referred to as Hawks.

2. The common buzzard (Buteo buteo) is a medium sized bird of prey, weighing between about 750g and 1.1 kg. It has a relatively large body, broad wings and a fan shaped tail. The plumage is highly variable, ranging from very dark brown to rarely, almost entirely white individuals.

3. Buzzards (Buteo buteo) have wide, round  heads, short necks, broad wings and a short, broad tail.

4. As with many other birds  of prey, the female buzzard is larger than the male.

5. The oldest recorded individual in the wild was 25 years of age! 

6. In flight, the Buzzard holds its wings in a shallow V-shape whilst soaring and gliding through the air, the head hardly extending in front of the wings. They sometimes spread their feathers, in a resemblance of ‘fingers’.

7. Whilst searching for prey, when not airborne, the Buzzard is often seen perching on poles and posts from where it can easily spot prey.

8. Preferred prey for Buzzards includes small mammals, small birds and insects, amphibians, earthworms and carrion. 

Image Source:  "Buzzard UK09" by Aviceda - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - 

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9. Carrion of dead animals may also form a significant part of the diet, with invertebrates (particularly in the winter). The hunting behaviour of using perches gives rise to the colloquial Scots name for the common buzzard of "telegraph pole eagle".

10. The Buzzard will meow, quite a lot like a cat, so if you think it’s a cat you hear, listen harder because there may be a bird of prey close by.

11. Buzzards normally fly alone-but if a few are ever spotted, it’ll be because they’re migrating or there’s lots of food around.

12. They are feircely territorial and, though rare, flights do break out if one strays onto another pair’s territory. In order to ward off the trespasser, they will display acts of aggression to show the other Buzzard whose boss. 

13. Buzzard pairs mate for life. To first attract a mate, or to impress his current one, the male will perform a ‘roller coaster’. He will rise high up in the sky, to turn and plummet downward, in a spiral, twisting and turning as he comes down. He then rises again quickly through the air and repeats it all over again. 

14. The Common Buzzard is naturally a slow, lazy flier, and often appears like it is laboring through the air.  It can often be seen soaring at great heights, riding on warm currents of air, or thermals. Sometimes this can get the bird in trouble, for a sudden gust of strong wind can sweep the bird away from its natural habitat to a new, foreign location.

15. It is interesting that the great horned owl and the red-tail hawk share the same niche (habitat, range, sometimes even use the same nests but at different times), but the former is nocturnal and the latter is diurnal. 

16. The red-tail’s Latin name derives from the fact that the first specimens on whom  the scientific name was based came from the island of Jamaica.