Do buzzards take pheasant poults?

deeksofdoom

As the title says 'Do buzzards take pheasant poults?', just wondering if anyone has seen a buzzard take a pheasant poult, I thought they wouldn't but seeing as how jumpy our poults are when one is around, It got me thinking.

They are certainly big enough.

Alchemist2

deeksofdoom wrote: »

As the title says 'Do buzzards take pheasant poults?', just wondering if anyone has seen a buzzard take a pheasant poult, I thought they wouldn't but seeing as how jumpy our poults are when one is around, It got me thinking.

They are certainly big enough.

Yes they do only sorry i didnt have a camera with me

daithi55

was in the bog this evening and saw one flying around... never saw one here before in the area it had about 30 grey crows following it as they had never seen one either hope it doesnt go mad killing everything

Birdnuts

I suppose it is possibile(though i've never personally seen buzzards in these parts bother) but good cover and pen netting should minimise any risk. Buzzards main prey would be rabbits, rodents,earthworms and carrion, and they tend to hunt in open areas. Below is a few studies on game bird predation and general buzzard info. The first study is particulary interesting as it looked at radio tagged poults in a high buzzard density area of Southern England. Showed the vast majority of predation losses involved foxes which is not suprising really

http://www.gwct.org.uk/research__surveys/species_research/birds/pheasant/249.asp

http://www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A253112.pdf

Poults are easily spooked by nature(like any young birds) so its not suprising that they will move away from any larger animal or bird they encounter. A wary juvenile bird is a safer bird, which is as nature intended. Buzzards are actually smaller than a Raven, its just their wings are large which makes them look bigger than they really are to the casual observer.

Grizzly 45

They sure will.They are opportunists like most birds of prey.

TriggerPL

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

They sure will.They are opportunists like most birds of prey.

Not at all they eat berrys like the pinemartins ! :-P

dodderangler

This thread popped up ages ago same thing and there was war bout it
Look buzzards main dish is carrion tho they will take rabbits aswell and you will see one or two last thing before sun goes eatin flies and diving at them but a young pheasant poult is more likely to be taken by foxes and mink more so than buzzards
Even a female sparrowhawk will take a poult so instead of worrying about buzzards I'd be more worried about the ground predators more so than sky
A bird of prey will take only one in a group a fox or mink will kill the lot

EP90

dodderangler wrote: »

Look buzzards main dish is carrion tho they will take rabbits aswell and you will see one or two last thing before sun goes eatin flies and diving at them but a young pheasant poult is more likely to be taken by foxes and mink more so than buzzards
Even a female sparrowhawk will take a poult so instead of worrying about buzzards I'd be more worried about the ground predators more so than sky
A bird of prey will take only one in a group a fox or mink will kill the lot

A sensible reply along with ‘Birdnuts’. They are among the few birds of prey that walk rather than hop, which enables them to hunt worms, beetles, small mammals etc. as well as walking around and covering carrion.

cavan shooter

I will probably get shouted down on this one but based on my own experience on the ground I shoot over and i release 60-70 poults a year, I have a couple of buzzards and I don't see any issues. I concur they are more into carrion. It maybe different where estates put out 1000's of birds.

I can live with the buzzards, the fox will do more damage as will the grey and magpie.

dermo72

yes buzzards do take pheasant poults, i breed 400 poults this year and moved to release pen about 3 weeks ago i watched 3 buzzards take poults from outside pen only yesterday. any ideas on keeping them away.

dodderangler

dermo72 wrote: »

yes buzzards do take pheasant poults, i breed 400 poults this year and moved to release pen about 3 weeks ago i watched 3 buzzards take poults from outside pen only yesterday. any ideas on keeping them away.

Not much u can do bout it
It's natural way of life
And any harm that comes to the buzzards will result in fines possible jail sentence as they are protected
Il admit they are breeding like rats at minute but nothin u can do
3 buzzards takin poults in same day I find strange as if one takes a poult the others will most likely feed on that one aswell
Where are u livin if u don't mind me asking?

Eddie B

The truth is that Buzzard's do take the odd pheasant when the opportunity arise's! Just like hedgehog's take the odd Pheasant egg, just like a Heron takes the odd duckling! This is part of nature, and we cant shoot everything that takes feed's on game!
As was said earlier, fox's and mink do the most harm when it comes to game, poultry and livestock, so stick to controlling them and stay well clear of protected species!!

dermo72

I'm living in Kildare. And yes 3 buzzards taking birds stood watching it with my son. The are still around and taking poults at this rate won't have many birds left.