Buzzard Observations

Boomshakalak

We have 3 buzzards who regularly sail over our house in North Donegal, always seems to be 3 at any one time.We have a rookery about 200 yds away around the farm down the road and have seen the crows bullying the buzzards away from the nesting area on numerous occasions, pretty mental.
It`s usually a bunch of crows but have seen single crows hassling the much larger buzzard who usually just buggers off.

thefly

I cant believe it. I only read this thread last night. I had to drive through Arklow today and on the N11 a Buzzard takes off and fly's 20 feet above my car. Amazing:eek: I had never seen one and went on to this thread last night to see where I might spot one. I had planned to go somewhere in a couple of weeks and the very next day one fly's over my car, it's crazy. Going back out with the camera on the weekend

E39MSport

thefly wrote: »

I cant believe it. I only read this thread last night. I had to drive through Arklow today and on the N11 a Buzzard takes off and fly's 20 feet above my car. Amazing:eek: I had never seen one and went on to this thread last night to see where I might spot one. I had planned to go somewhere in a couple of weeks and the very next day one fly's over my car, it's crazy. Going back out with the camera on the weekend

Excellent.

On a sunny day you may only see them soaring up high. There's quite a few of them about the North Kildare area for sure.

Enjoy.

E39MSport

The local Buzzards have been missing for a good while now.

I assume they are staying local to their nest feeding youngsters. Means the nest is nowhere near me

Anyway, saw them soaring yesterday with 2 young birds. Very happy to see that. They had 3 chicks last year afaik.

Great to see them thriving especially given the bad fortune of some of the other raptor species of late.

Mothman

I've merged the new thread into the previous thread.

snowstreams

Are there any buzzard strongholds in the west yet? I've only ever seen buzzards in meath Louth. Am hoping i might see some soon in Galway or mayo.
Are they slow to spread geographically in general?

Feargal as Luimneach

Here's a young buzzard who got trapped in a larsen trap. Luckily the farmer is sound enough and got us to check it out to see it wasn't hurt after it's ordeal. It wasn't, just some minor damage to tail feathers and primary feathers. (you can see how blunt it's tail feathers are).
This is a young bird: Lack of distinct band at edge of tail is key feature, streaking on breast rather than barring, paler colour of bird ( paleness of bird however not a good indicator as you can get pale adult morphs!).
We released the bird and it flew off. I must admit I gave a big cheer once it flew off.

E39MSport

snowstreams wrote: »

Are there any buzzard strongholds in the west yet? I've only ever seen buzzards in meath Louth. Am hoping i might see some soon in Galway or mayo.
Are they slow to spread geographically in general?

Not sure. Irish Birding has reports in Galway.

They can be difficult to spot though despite their size. Keep your eyes pealed very high up on a calm warm day.

Mothman

E39MSport wrote: »

Not sure. Irish Birding has reports in Galway.

They can be difficult to spot though despite their size. Keep your eyes pealed very high up on a calm warm day.

In my experience, usually heard before being seen

Gaspode

We have buzzards back again this year (D15), but they've moved nesting site to a field up the road a bit. I would have thought they would have returned to the same nest.
No sign of any young yet though.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Buzzards sometimes build or reconstruct more than one nest in a season. Some years they'll use a new one, others it's a reconstructed older one.

There should be chicks at this stage in the year.

Connacht

@ snowstreams

There have been some sightings in Mayo, but not many. They would seem to be coming in from the south and east (logically), as I have reports from Ballina / Foxford direction, on the one hand, and Ballinrobe / Hollymount on the other. Have not heard of any in the large square N of Westport or W of Ballina (Erris). Have not seen any in Mayo myself.

Birdnuts

Connacht wrote: »

@ snowstreams

There have been some sightings in Mayo, but not many. They would seem to be coming in from the south and east (logically), as I have reports from Ballina / Foxford direction, on the one hand, and Ballinrobe / Hollymount on the other. Have not heard of any in the large square N of Westport or W of Ballina (Erris). Have not seen any in Mayo myself.

A young buzzard was seen perched in a plantation on the Erris peninsula only last September.


PS: The seem to be doing OK in nearby Sligo so hopefully its only a matter of time before they become more widespead in Mayo:)

snowstreams

Im usually walking out along the coast/mountains when im in Mayo so thats probably against my chances of seeing one. I'll keep my eyes on the skies, im bound to see one sooner or later in Mayo if they are breeding in Sligo.
They will surely make it to Mayo in the next 10 years considering, 20 years ago they were mostly confined to Antrim.

Tedzer

eire_dd wrote: »

It was actually Kileen Golf club, over at the naas road

Also saw one about 2 wk ago around same area was at my childs GAA game looking up to sky fantastic sight.
other parents must think i was a bit mad looking up to sky so long.
Also driving south on N7 another day & same bird flew close to roof of car close call. what a majestic and fantastic bird.

heavyballs

saw 2 sets of 2 in different parts of Greystones/Kilcoole and saw 1 last week just above the new toll outside Kilcock

also i saw a different bird of prey also in Kilcock but it was a fair bit smaller ,very quick and was diving into field next door ,don't know what it was

Feargal as Luimneach

heavyballs wrote: »

saw 2 sets of 2 in different parts of Greystones/Kilcoole and saw 1 last week just above the new toll outside Kilcock

also i saw a different bird of prey also in Kilcock but it was a fair bit smaller ,very quick and was diving into field next door ,don't know what it was

Probably a Kestrel.......

heavyballs

Feargal as Luimneach wrote: »

Probably a Kestrel.......

cheers ,have been checking out a few picks,the wing looks different though,could it be a peregrine falcon,wings looked similar?not sure about size though

Smartypantsdig

I have been out working near Duleek all week and I can say, hand on the place where the Romans used to swear by, it is buzzard country! At one stage I had seven in the air right over me. There appears to be a great variation in the colouring of these birds. Some are almost pale brown while others are so dark as to be almost black. Is this normal?

trebor28

Smartypantsdig wrote: »

I have been out working near Duleek all week and I can say, hand on the place where the Romans used to swear by, it is buzzard country! At one stage I had seven in the air right over me. There appears to be a great variation in the colouring of these birds. Some are almost pale brown while others are so dark as to be almost black. Is this normal?

i think juveniles are paler brown so thats probably what you are seeing.
plus if their was 7 of them that would add up all though if there were 5 chicks they must be doing very well.

Birdnuts

Smartypantsdig wrote: »

I have been out working near Duleek all week and I can say, hand on the place where the Romans used to swear by, it is buzzard country! At one stage I had seven in the air right over me. There appears to be a great variation in the colouring of these birds. Some are almost pale brown while others are so dark as to be almost black. Is this normal?

The Common Buzzard is indeed the most variable plumaged Bird of Prey in Europe at least. Every shade from extremely pale to near black can occur in adults. Rufus is also possible but this is more common in Eastern Europe where they are sometimes called Steppe Buzzards.

E39MSport

I think theres a dead one on the right hand verge of the M4 Motorway as it begins heading west out of Lucan.
Pity.

whyulittle

Was driving into the M4 toll plaza this morning, and spotted a large dark grey bird with a big wedged tail.

Was it a buzzard, or kestrel...?

Connacht

almost certainly a Buzzard.
I came thru the M4 toll yesterday at 5 pm and saw one over fields to right a few km west of toll.

marlin vs

I got this picture of a pair of Buzzard's while pigeon shooting, as the circled overhead.

Bsal

I saw 3 together over Silogue golf course near Dublin airport this afternoon.

trebor28

would rabbits be a favoured prey of buzzards?

there is a field near me where i know for a fact there is rabbits, its the only one in the locality that i know of.
anyway the last couple of times i have been walking my dogs up there i have spotted a buzzard flying away from the trees along the ditch when he sees me coming. he then lands on a telephone pole for a while watching me and then flies off.
when i get to the field there is not a rabbit to be seen anywhere.

Fuzzy Clam

Saw 4 together this afternoon circling over a field near me in the Midlands.

Birdnuts

trebor28 wrote: »

would rabbits be a favoured prey of buzzards?

.

Going on the ones around here, its rabbits in the late spring/early summer changing over to rats from harvest time onwards:)

Mothman

This thread moved into a discussion on Frogs and Buzzards preying on them. I have moved these posts to a new thread

Continue with this thread for Buzzard observations and general queries about Buzzards