Buzzards

ChrisM

Quick Buzzard Update:

I saw what I think was an adult pair and 4 young soaring over Blanchardstown (over the grounds of the I.T.). They were pretty high up, but I could still hear them calling, t'was music to my ears

Also, I saw an individual Buzzard (most likely a young bird) between Balgriffin cemetary and Balmayne. There is some scrub land there so I am sure it was hunting!

I keep on seeing Sparrowhawks too!. In the last week I saw one about 15 feet away, hovering over the long grass at the entrance to Bull Island. The other one I saw was again hovering about 20 feet over Donabate Golf Course, right down at the end of the beach (across from Malahide Beach).

mgwhelan

ChrisM wrote: »

Quick Buzzard Update:

I saw what I think was an adult pair and 4 young soaring over Blanchardstown (over the grounds of the I.T.). They were pretty high up, but I could still hear them calling, t'was music to my ears

Also, I saw an individual Buzzard (most likely a young bird) between Balgriffin cemetary and Balmayne. There is some scrub land there so I am sure it was hunting!

I keep on seeing Sparrowhawks too!. In the last week I saw one about 15 feet away, hovering over the long grass at the entrance to Bull Island. The other one I saw was again hovering about 20 feet over Donabate Golf Course, right down at the end of the beach (across from Malahide Beach).

do you mean kestrel rather than sparrowhawk, as kestrels are the one that hover:)

ChrisM

I got sidetracked when I was posting this. I edited the post but never changed from sparrowhawk to kestrel

I was in Wicklow last week and was very excited at the chance of seeing a red kite. Has anyone seen one yet? If so, where?

snowstreams

Ive seen loads of Red Kites in wicklow. The best place to see them is the general region around Avoca village. On any good afternoon you should see a few, if you cant see them in the village, just take a loop drive around some of the country roads in the area and you will surely spot a few.
There is a thread here about them: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055974642

surly joe

Lots of Buzzards in my area, dublin/kildare border.Great to see large birds of prey in the skies.

BEASTERLY

I think i saw a buzzard soaring over a forested area between wexford and ennischorthy. It certainly looked like one but is there buzzards this far south?

Birdnuts

BEASTERLY wrote: »

I think i saw a buzzard soaring over a forested area between wexford and ennischorthy. It certainly looked like one but is there buzzards this far south?

The entire country of Wexford is now buzzard territory - the have now re-colonised as far as East Cork:)

BEASTERLY

Birdnuts wrote: »

The entire country of Wexford is now buzzard territory - the have now colonised as far as East Cork:)

Deadly, will be keeping a keen eye out for them so, a friend of mine said he saw a red kite in gorey recently, wandering from avoca? Wonder how long till kites become a common site in the skies round these parts.

homerhop

got some nice video footage of one last night in the wood, there are 3 of them in it so might go over tonight and get some better quality stuff.

trebor28

on a better note, at least its not the Buzzards i have seen around me recently!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYt5HuIHg_U

i have a few other clips, must try and post them too.

whyulittle

Amazing the height and distance they can achieve with so little effort.

trebor28

whyulittle wrote: »

Amazing the height and distance they can achieve with so little effort.

yeah you hardly ever see them flap. even when popping out of a tree, they just glide close to the ground and pick up spped and then glide away.

have another bit of them dive bombing each other with their wings back.
will get that up too.

Mothman

Recent poisoning posts have been moved to specific thread, dealing with poisoning

nilhg

trebor28 wrote: »

on a better note, at least its not the Buzzards i have seen around me recently!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYt5HuIHg_U

i have a few other clips, must try and post them too.

I watched two buzzards soar over our yard Thursday evening, a juvenile and one of the parents I think, great sight to see them soar higher and higher into the blue sky without hardly flapping a wing.

I've heard the juvenile several times over the last week or so, once or twice I got to see it, it was in high trees calling (to be fed I presume) then Thursday it was in trees near the yard calling, it took off and flew over the yard with half a dozen or so swallows in attendance still calling when the parent arrived and both of them just circled higher and higher over the yard.

We see plenty of them this time of year, after the harvest, I presume they are taking rodents which have lost their cover.

whyulittle

The pair of Buzzards I was watching the other day look as though they may have a chick. There were three of them circling around for about 10 minutes today, and they were very vocal.

Watched two of them mix with the Marsh Harrier yesterday as well.

E39MSport

Looks like he/she has a bit of straw attached. Quite far away, I reckon c. 500/600m high.





Over the house just now. Getting used to OH's new DSC-HX9V.

These 3 are regulars around Donadea.

Itsdacraic

Have there been buzzard sightings in West Limerick?

Last week on my way to Cork, I saw the shilloutte of the biggest bird of prey I've ever seen in Ireland. Would it be possible it was a buzzard?

I only got a brief look though as those roads are bad and needed to keep my eyes on the road!

cameramonkey

http://www.irishbirding.com/birds/web/Display/sighting/40681/Buzzard.html


buzzard in ballymun

Bsal

One of the best places to see Buzzards is around Silogue golf course beside Dublin airport, which isn't too far from where those pictures where taken.

E39MSport

One flew over me heading towards there a few weeks ago just before sunset. Must roost in the course.

Kess73

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Have there been buzzard sightings in West Limerick?

Last week on my way to Cork, I saw the shilloutte of the biggest bird of prey I've ever seen in Ireland. Would it be possible it was a buzzard?

I only got a brief look though as those roads are bad and needed to keep my eyes on the road!

I have yet to see one in West Limerick and I am outdoors on that side of the county on a very regular basis, but I have seen buzzards on more than one occasion in the Fedamore/Meanus/Croom/Bruree areas, so that would tie in with you seeing one on the Cork side of Limerick. Got to observe one on a post near the graveyard in Fedamore so am 100% on what I saw.


Have also seen buzzards (although only once a few years back) whilst out hiking on the Galtees near Galtymore.

swifts need our help!

Guys be on the look out for wing tagged Buzzards. A friend of mine has tagged Buzzards in Down and Antrim. No telling where they will go over the winter.

Mark

Mothman

swifts need our help! wrote: »

Guys be on the look out for wing tagged Buzzards. A friend of mine has tagged Buzzards in Down and Antrim. No telling where they will go over the winter.
Mark

Mark, please explain the licence/permissions required to allow one to tag Buzzards etc and the reasoning in applying tags, and perhaps explain a bit (link?) about the particular scheme your friend is involved with?

I'd hate to think that a casual reader may get the impression that tagging may be done willy nilly by anyone.

swifts need our help!

It's not only red kites which are wing-tagged in Northern Ireland: Eimear Rooney, a volunteer with NIRK and PhD student at Queen‟s University, Belfast has just completed the first year of buzzard wingtagging as part of a study into buzzard biology.

Wing-tags allow important questions about buzzard biology in Northern Ireland to be answered including: How many juvenile birds survive their first winter, and to breeding age? What are the dispersal distances of juveniles from their nests? When does breeding begin in an expanding population? What is the turnover rate of adults at particular sites?

This year Eimear has tagged 39 juveniles in Counties Antrim and Down. Opposite to the Red Kite colour schemes (just to be confusing) it is the colour on the right wing of the buzzards which represents the area. Northern Irish buzzards are all tagged yellow on the right wing. The left wing colour represents the year of tagging, and for 2011 this is orange.

The scheme is in conjunction with others being carried out in Argyll (red), Aberfoyle (white) and Cork (navy blue). Each individual has a different tag
number which allows individual birds to be identified.

Any tagged buzzards can be reported to Eimear via buzzardsni@hotmail.co.uk.

dodderangler

Old thread I know but I spotted a pair sitting on top of two hay bails behind airport today. Looke like they were scoping the field for food.
Judging by size of the two they were a male female mated pair.
Was only 30 yards away from them for a few seconds.
Great to see about. Also few minutes before I spotted a nice size female spar chilling on a fence.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Buzzards are now widespad on the east coast. As I said on another thread, you will get very close to buzzards in any location now. I have them in trees in the garden and they roost on the TV aerial at times.

magicbastarder

i couldn't believe the numbers of them in the UK a few weeks ago when i was over on holidays - driving from cornwall to bristol, my wife lost count at about 20.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

magicbastarder wrote: »

i couldn't believe the numbers of them in the UK a few weeks ago when i was over on holidays - driving from cornwall to bristol, my wife lost count at about 20.

We're a bit shy of those densities just yet but I believe we are going to get there. I had 5 in the garden only this week.
Just 15 years ago they were a real source of curiosity and now when one passes the window of our house and a visitor asks about it my says "oh it's only a Buzzard". There would be more excitement if we had yellowhammers back in the garden at this stage.

Pie Man

Got my first close up look at a buzzard at the weekend. One was feeding on worms in a field that I was drawing in bales of silage from. I was able to get as near as 15 feet away before the bird flew off. A tractor is a great mobile hide, the next day I was walking wasn't even in the field before it flew off.

OpenYourEyes

Being from Roscommon, I'm very envious of the "Oh its just a Buzzard" attitude in the east and south! We do have Buzzards, and I'm sure the numbers are increasing, but still not that regular an occurence yet!