What Bird Is This ?

I was out today on the bicycle and spotted one of these trying to fly off with a small rabbit that was killed on the road, I've been wanting to know what these birds were for a long time.

I usually see them flying in pairs and these two have been around for a while but one is now dead, I saw him on the side of the road a bit up the way, so I took a pic and moved him into the grass.

They usually make a screeching sound, first I thought they were some kind of Kestrel/hawk ?

Bsal

It looks like a female pheasant to me, probably hit by a car.

Birdnuts

That's a young pheasant. Looks like he got hit by a car

EDIT: Bsal got there ahead of me;)

Dindsenchas

It's definitely a female pheasant and it looks like it may have been a young bird(the tail feathers are still quite short).

Yeah now that I think of it you're right, it's a fecking pheasant. LOL
I wouldn't mind only I see loads of them flying around here. They look different dead. Poor thing.

I keep wondering what these birds are that I'm seeing, they fly in pairs and make some squealing noise,

The one today couldn't have been a pheasant because it looked far bigger and was flying off with a small rabbit until I scared it and it dropped it. I can't get close enough to get a pic and I've no proper camera to zoom.

Birdnuts

Deleted User wrote: »

,

The one today couldn't have been a pheasant because it looked far bigger and was flying off with a small rabbit until I scared it and it dropped it. I can't get close enough to get a pic and I've no proper camera to zoom.

The birds your seeing are buzzards. They often scavenge roadkill like dead rabbits and the like. Buzzards have big wings but there body would be good deal smaller than an adult pheasanst

Birdnuts

Birdnuts wrote: »

The birds your seeing are buzzards. They often scavenge roadkill like dead rabbits and the like

Yeah someone told me they could be buzzards, they are quiet big and they stay in one spot for ages without flapping their wings, they are cool to watch.

I only noticed them around relatively recently. Usually trigger happy farmers around here shoot or poison anything that moves on land or flies above so I don't know how they survive ?

I can only imagine them being shot soon enough, shame because they are really cool birds.

whyulittle

Given your description, I was expecting to see Buzzards show up in the pics.....

whyulittle

whyulittle wrote: »

Given your description, I was expecting to see Buzzards show up in the pics.....

LOL yeah I was hoping, I can't get close enough to them to take a pic, if i had a proper camera with a good zoom.

But I should have known they were pheasants as I've seen enough of them. :rolleyes:

Birdnuts

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah someone told me they could be buzzards, they are quiet big and they stay in one spot for ages without flapping their wings, they are cool to watch.

I only noticed them around relatively recently. Usually trigger happy farmers around here shoot or poison anything that moves on land or flies above so I don't know how they survive ?

I can only imagine them being shot soon enough, shame because they are really cool birds.

Buzzards are strictly protected by law and the use of outdoor poison baits is now illegal. So if you suspect illegal activity don't hesitate to contact the Gardaí,NPWS etc.

Birdnuts

Birdnuts wrote: »

Buzzards are strictly protected by law and the use of outdoor poison baits is now illegal. So if you suspect illegal activity don't hesitate to contact the Gardaí,NPWS etc.

I didn't know that, thanks.

Trust me, the Farmers around here are well in with the Law/politicians and I dare not say anything against a farmer, around here Farmers are the so called pillars of the community. They are a very powerful bunch.

V_Moth

Deleted User wrote: »

I didn't know that, thanks.

Trust me, the Farmers around here are well in with the Law/politicians and I dare not say anything against a farmer, around here Farmers are the so called pillars of the community. They are a very powerful bunch.

The only way that will change is if people start questioning it.

V_Moth

V_Moth wrote: »

The only way that will change is if people start questioning it.

Indeed, but the only way I would ever even contemplate making a complaint against a farmer in Ireland would be to go to an independent body. Not Guards, especially not local guards who drink in the local.

Ireland has a very long way to go before people do what's right rather than fear speaking against people they know, or to others who know them.

Farmers are deeply rooted in politics and this is what really needs to change. And Ireland will never move forward as long as Farmers are so powerful in politics.

Birdnuts

Deleted User wrote: »

Indeed, but the only way I would ever even contemplate making a complaint against a farmer in Ireland would be to go to an independent body. Not Guards, especially not local guards who drink in the local.

Ireland has a very long way to go before people do what's right rather than fear speaking against people they know, or to others who know them.

Farmers are deeply rooted in politics and this is what really needs to change. And Ireland will never move forward as long as Farmers are so powerful in politics.

To be fair most farmers I've encountered over the years are sound enough and respect out wildlife laws. Its the minority of rotten apples that do a disproportionate amount of damage to wildlife and the reputation of Irish farming. The carryon of some elements of the IFA don't help their public image either and many farmers I know are frustrated by that too!!

Birdnuts

Birdnuts wrote: »

To be fair most farmers I've encountered over the years are sound enough and respect out wildlife laws. Its the minority of rotten apples that do a disproportionate amount of damage to wildlife and the reputation of Irish farming. The carryon of some elements of the IFA don't help their public image either and many farmers I know are frustrated by that too!!

Sure a lot of farmers are honest decent people, and hard working and I know some. And it isn't just farmers that disrespect wildlife but locals too but a lot of this happens on farmland, be it the farmer or not and I don't think enough is being done about it.

Grolschevik

Birdnuts wrote: »

The carrion of some elements of the IFA don't help their public image either a

Given we're talking about buzzards...

jellybaby21

Deleted User wrote: »

Sure a lot of farmers are honest decent people, and hard working and I know some. And it isn't just farmers that disrespect wildlife but locals too but a lot of this happens on farmland, be it the farmer or not and I don't think enough is being done about it.

Do you have any proof these people are breaking the law?If you do and choose to do nothing about it then you are as bad as them.Now im sorry if this offends you but thats how i see it.

jellybaby21

jellybaby21 wrote: »

Do you have any proof these people are breaking the law?If you do and choose to do nothing about it then you are as bad as them.Now im sorry if this offends you but thats how i see it.

If I had proof, I can assure you I'd do something about it.

I could hear the Buzzards or whatever they are close to my house yesterday over a wooded area. I never heard them that close to the house before, They are getting closer to more populated area. I hope that they are left alone.

jellybaby21

Deleted User wrote: »

If I had proof, I can assure you I'd do something about it.

I could hear the Buzzards or whatever they are close to my house yesterday over a wooded area. I never heard them that close to the house before, They are getting closer to more populated area. I hope that they are left alone.

Well then im afraid you cant go around accusing farmers of shooting and poisoning everything in the countryside.

The buzzards are great to see soaring,I watched 4 of them this morning over my house.

jellybaby21

jellybaby21 wrote: »

Well then im afraid you cant go around accusing farmers of shooting and poisoning everything in the countryside.

The buzzards are great to see soaring,I watched 4 of them this morning over my house.

People know it goes on, just look at what some of them did to the eagles that were reintroduced after they wiped them out before. ? It's hard to catch people doing things on land that you have no legal entitlement to be on.

I know things are changing slowly, but too slowly.

dodderangler

[Deleted User] wrote: »

People know it goes on, just look at what some of them did to the eagles that were reintroduced after they wiped them out before. ? It's hard to catch people doing things on land that you have no legal entitlement to be on.

I know things are changing slowly, but too slowly.

Where's the proof it was farmers that done it??
There are scumbags out there that'll do it out of spite.
I could mention the people I think done it but not right to paint them all with the same brush

dodderangler

dodderangler wrote: »

Where's the proof it was farmers that done it??
There are scumbags out there that'll do it out of spite.
I could mention the people I think done it but not right to paint them all with the same brush

Because they found poisoned carcases on their land, it was common practice. Hopefully not still.

Sure there are a lot of people that are not farmers that are cruel scum bags. Never said otherwise. And I'm not accusing all farmers.

dodderangler

Finding poisoned carcasses on their land doesn't mean they done it.
Too many people in Ireland can easily walk onto land without being spotted.
I reckon I know who it is anyway

Eah, it was common practice for farmers to lay poisoned carcases, course they did it, maybe not the "only" ones.

jellybaby21

Deleted User wrote: »

People know it goes on, just look at what some of them did to the eagles that were reintroduced after they wiped them out before. ? It's hard to catch people doing things on land that you have no legal entitlement to be on.

I know things are changing slowly, but too slowly.

Yes its well documented what has happened to some of the reintroduced birds of prey both here in wicklow and other counties.Now I know some are still getting poisoned but far fewer than when first reintroduced and thats down to bad planing on behalf of those involved in the reintroduution program.They did things back to front,they should have looked for the poisoning laws to be changed before they reintroduced the birds not after.As you say things are changing and maybe thats why buzzard numbers are way up in the last few years.

As I have said already you cant go around accusing farmers in your area of all sorts without proof.

jellybaby21

jellybaby21 wrote: »

As I have said already you cant go around accusing farmers in your area of all sorts without proof.

I don't.

OpenYourEyes

jellybaby21 wrote: »

They did things back to front,they should have looked for the poisoning laws to be changed before they reintroduced the birds not after.

They and others campaigned for years to get the laws changed regarding poisons - at least 10 years before the re-intro and probably longer.

They couldn't get any changes made because of the government, and I'd assume the farming lobby to a large extent. It took several high profile poisonings (i.e. the reintroduced birds) and political criticism and complains from the Scottish and Norwegian governments for the changes to be made.

It's often the case that our scientists know the issues related to wildlife/environmental problems, and they've probably campaigned and proposed changes, but getting anything done with idiot politicians only concerned with a few votes and not annoying lobby groups like the IFA* who are fairly resistent to any change is very difficult.



*As with any group, there are plenty of farmers on the ground who would be willing and enthusiastic to change that would benefit wildlife, but they often don't know about the changes they could/should make, and the IFA (and other farming organisations), as a body, are not open to any such changes.

OpenYourEyes

Deleted User wrote: »

Eah, it was common practice for farmers to lay poisoned carcases, course they did it, maybe not the "only" ones.

The poisoning of the two Eagle species was undoubtedly done by farmers - as you said it was common practice for them to lay poisoned carcasses on their land to kill off birds of prey, crow species and foxes (and maybe badgers). Also if you look at the many newspaper articles over the years it was sheep farmers complaining (and threatening) about the reintroductions, and the IFA.

Obviously the shootings were not necessarily farmers - they could have been any idiotic pr*cks with guns.

Like I said in my above post (and not accusing you of this, just making sure I'm clear with my own words), thankfully those farmers and shooters are not representative of all farmers and shooters, but you can't argue that they were farmers and shooters. Unfortunately it takes only a few nutcases to do a huge amount of damage to such fragile populations.

jellybaby21

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah someone told me they could be buzzards, they are quiet big and they stay in one spot for ages without flapping their wings, they are cool to watch.

I only noticed them around relatively recently. Usually trigger happy farmers around here shoot or poison anything that moves on land or flies above so I don't know how they survive ?

I can only imagine them being shot soon enough, shame because they are really cool birds.

Read your own post.

jellybaby21

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

They and others campaigned for years to get the laws changed regarding poisons - at least 10 years before the re-intro and probably longer.

They couldn't get any changes made because of the government, and I'd assume the farming lobby to a large extent. It took several high profile poisonings (i.e. the reintroduced birds) and political criticism and complains from the Scottish and Norwegian governments for the changes to be made.

It's often the case that our scientists know the issues related to wildlife/environmental problems, and they've probably campaigned and proposed changes, but getting anything done with idiot politicians only concerned with a few votes and not annoying lobby groups like the IFA* who are fairly resistent to any change is very difficult.



*As with any group, there are plenty of farmers on the ground who would be willing and enthusiastic to change that would benefit wildlife, but they often don't know about the changes they could/should make, and the IFA (and other farming organisations), as a body, are not open to any such changes.

Its a shame it took the birds to be poisoned for the government to change things but thats this country for ya.I still think the laws should have been changed first but thats just my opinion.I dont know the in's and outs of it so my opinion doesnt realy matter.

OpenYourEyes

jellybaby21 wrote: »

Its a shame it took the birds to be poisoned for the government to change things but thats this country for ya.I still think the laws should have been changed first but thats just my opinion.I dont know the in's and outs of it so my opinion doesnt realy matter.

The laws should definitely have been changed first - they should have been changed years ago! Nobody disagrees with you there. My point was that the Golden Eagle trust (and I think Birdwatch Ireland and NPWS) all did their very best to get those laws changed for a long time before the reintroduction.

Your comment above suggested that getting the laws changed was an afterthought by the wildlife bodies involved and that the wildlife people made a mistake there - my point is that you're incorrect there as they put years of campaigning into getting those changes but they were never going to come until a foreign government embarrassed our politicians into acting and dragging our laws on the matter into the 21st Century.

Birdnuts

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

They and others campaigned for years to get the laws changed regarding poisons - at least 10 years before the re-intro and probably longer.

They couldn't get any changes made because of the government, and I'd assume the farming lobby to a large extent. It took several high profile poisonings (i.e. the reintroduced birds) and political criticism and complains from the Scottish and Norwegian governments for the changes to be made.

It's often the case that our scientists know the issues related to wildlife/environmental problems, and they've probably campaigned and proposed changes, but getting anything done with idiot politicians only concerned with a few votes and not annoying lobby groups like the IFA* who are fairly resistent to any change is very difficult.



*As with any group, there are plenty of farmers on the ground who would be willing and enthusiastic to change that would benefit wildlife, but they often don't know about the changes they could/should make, and the IFA (and other farming organisations), as a body, are not open to any such changes.

I would agree that the IFA are not a body in general that do much for the image of farmers among non-farmers. And beleive me this is a source of much annoyance to many in the farming community. But as regards the Eagle intros it has to be said that the Donegal IFA at least were very supportive from the start. The situation in Kerry was different but that was down to certain "personalities" who frankly embarrased themselves repeatidly on the subject. There was other stuff going on behind the scenes but I can't really get into that on a public forum. Anyways even the Kerry IFA had to admit earlier this year that they had no evidence that any type of livestock was ever harmed by any of the eagles in the past 7 years of the project.

jellybaby21

OpenYourEyes wrote: »

The laws should definitely have been changed first - they should have been changed years ago! Nobody disagrees with you there. My point was that the Golden Eagle trust (and I think Birdwatch Ireland and NPWS) all did their very best to get those laws changed for a long time before the reintroduction.

Your comment above suggested that getting the laws changed was an afterthought by the wildlife bodies involved and that the wildlife people made a mistake there - my point is that you're incorrect there as they put years of campaigning into getting those changes but they were never going to come until a foreign government embarrassed our politicians into acting and dragging our laws on the matter into the 21st Century.

I dont think it was an afterthought but I do think they made a mistake in going ahead with reintroduction before they got these laws changed.(again only my opinion)You say the changes were never going to happen till the foreign government got involved,well why didnt they get involved before the birds had to die?As I said its a shame it had to happen this way.

I haven't seen these birds since I heard 2 gun shots go off on the farm across the road, that's a few weeks ago, not a sign and I was out on the bike today.

Coincidence ? Strange that they were over the land that day, remember I said they were getting closer to town ? And it was the farmer and his son shooting. Of course I can't prove it, can ye ever ?

Strange they were there and not since.

I will inform if I see them again, but I have my doubts !

Capercaille

Deleted User wrote: »

I haven't seen these birds since I heard 2 gun shots go off on the farm across the road, that's a few weeks ago, not a sign and I was out on the bike today.

Coincidence ? Strange that they were over the land that day, remember I said they were getting closer to town ? And it was the farmer and his son shooting. Of course I can't prove it, can ye ever ?

Strange they were there and not since.

I will inform if I see them again, but I have my doubts !

Hopefully they haven't been shot:(

Capercaille

Capercaille wrote: »

Hopefully they haven't been shot:(

Hopefully, but having seen and heard them over his land the day I heard 2 shots and haven't heard or seen them since doesn't make me feel like I'll see them again.

This person shoots for fun. I don't know how people can do it.

Sure, I could be wrong and I really hope so as they were unique birds. and I really liked the sound they made and to look at them fly.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Buzzards move away from their breeding areas at this time of year. I have a pair that breed within 150m of my garden and after months of watching up to 5 birds gliding above and even landing in the garden, they have now moved on. But they will be back intermittently in the months ahead and back for a longer spell come early March next.

I wouldn't panic.

Lyla Thankful Orchid

Lyla Thankful Orchid wrote: »

Buzzards move away from their breeding areas at this time of year. I have a pair that breed within 150m of my garden and after months of watching up to 5 birds gliding above and even landing in the garden, they have now moved on. But they will be back intermittently in the months ahead and back for a longer spell come early March next.

I wouldn't panic.

Hopefully, just rather strange they disappeared the same time I heard the shots.

But I'll be keeping an eye out and will update if I hear or see them.

Birdnuts

Deleted User wrote: »

Hopefully, just rather strange they disappeared the same time I heard the shots.

But I'll be keeping an eye out and will update if I hear or see them.

As others have said, I wouldn't panic yet. Buzzards move around a fair bit at this time of year and will often travel many miles from their usual haunts if theirs good feeding to be had. Many buzzards at this time of year will move to tillage areas to take advantage of the abundant supply of rats that are easier to catch once crops are harvested. More than likely the farmers were simply out shooting crows/pigeons.

Birdnuts

Birdnuts wrote: »

As others have said, I wouldn't panic yet. Buzzards move around a fair bit at this time of year and will often travel many miles from their usual haunts if theirs good feeding to be had. Many buzzards at this time of year will move to tillage areas to take advantage of the abundant supply of rats that are easier to catch once crops are harvested. More than likely the farmers were simply out shooting crows/pigeons.

Hopefully, I don't really know much about these birds. I think this year is the first time in my life I've seen them around here.