Birds of Prey

cd07

What would most of you guys on this forum make of so called ` Sportsmen` shooting native birds of prey? I have a huge interest in shooting and also in birds and wildlife in general. I was talking to a few guys recently who cant stand any raptors and blame them for poor numbers in pheasants around the past few years. They said to me that given the chance they would take them down. I think this is a blight on the sport and clubs should remove anyone found to have killed any raptors.

endacl

Not just a blight on a sport. It's a shortsighted selfish attitude towards what little of a 'wilderness' we have left. The only valid way to shoot a raptor is through a long lens.

dodderangler

This has been done t death.
Nothing but scumbags do it and these are the same lads that do no vermin control whatsoever but are out in pheasant season shooting 5 birds a day and then blame every bop they see for lack of birds about.

Snakezilla

Im also a fan of wildlife , always have been and always have been. I have heard lads in the clubs Im in going on about shooting these birds of prey. I dont condone it but in fairness the population of Buzzards has exploded. When out last weekend we counted 7 circling over head. There is by no means a shortage of these Buzzards in my area but how are numbers supposed to be controlled? What are they supposed to eat? Rabbits have pretty much disappeared from the fields, not worth shooting them because theres such little numbers. Foxes have to eat , as do the magpies , grey crows and everything else we share the countryside with. Personally I have seen proof of these birds feasting on our 8 week old poults we let out during the summer.
Is there any way NPWS can trap them and move them elsewhere?

I love to see them , but there are too many.

Birdnuts

This issue has been discussed before on this forum and I think the majority of sportsmen obey the laws of the land and appreciate the role of such birds in the balance of nature. You will allways have the ignorant few who bring the sport into disrepute with their backward views and actions. As for pheasants - most of the reports I've seen on here and elsewhere suggest numbers are well up on last year. Any studies into this issue have shown BOPs in general take very few pheasants in general compared to mortality from foxes, mink,disease, bad weather and roadkill etc.

Jerrystevens

you can't persecute a native bird of prey for eating non native released pheasants that's an unwinnable situation legally and morally

Birdnuts

Snakezilla wrote: »

Im also a fan of wildlife , always have been and always have been. I have heard lads in the clubs Im in going on about shooting these birds of prey. I dont condone it but in fairness the population of Buzzards has exploded. When out last weekend we counted 7 circling over head. There is by no means a shortage of these Buzzards in my area but how are numbers supposed to be controlled? What are they supposed to eat? Rabbits have pretty much disappeared from the fields, not worth shooting them because theres such little numbers. Foxes have to eat , as do the magpies , grey crows and everything else we share the countryside with. Personally I have seen proof of these birds feasting on our 8 week old poults we let out during the summer.
Is there any way NPWS can trap them and move them elsewhere?

I love to see them , but there are too many.

Buzzards actually eat a lot of vermin like crows, rodents, pigeons etc. There is no shortage of such food(this obviously benefits farmers and the like) and they also do a lot of scavaging so they actually fit well into the Irish countryside. The have increased in numbers but that was from near extinction.
In many parts of the country they are still scarce or absent.

dodderangler

All types of rodents fit the menu. Not to mention corvids, pigeon and carrion.
They also love insects. During the end of summer you've probably seen them soaring about and occasionally making a dive. That's when the flying insects like crane flies etc start moving upward and the buzzards will feast on them then

Snakezilla

Birdnuts wrote: »

Buzzards actually eat a lot of vermin like crows, rodents, pigeons etc. There is no shortage of such food(this obviously benefits farmers and the like) and they also do a lot of scavaging so they actually fit well into the Irish countryside. The have increased in numbers but that was from near extinction.
In many parts of the country they are still scarce or absent.

You're dead right Birdnuts and they are damn good at their job. Even though they eat vermin, Id hate to see the magpies disappear, or the fox , jay or any animal vermin or game. But with the big numbers of Buzzard in my area (and theyre bound to get bigger over time) my main concern is them eating easy prey like the poults we work so hard to rear every year. A handful of buzzards in an area isnt going to make much of a dent in 250 pheasants, but 7 circling over one field is a bit of a concern. I could have shot one a few weeks back , it mustnt have seen me and it just landed on a dead ash tree I was approaching from the opposite side. I stood there in awe at the beauty and size of it. Theyre truly amazing. I would never ever raise a gun to one (unless it was coming at me with razor claws :rolleyes:)

I would rather see 1 or 2 than 7

dodderangler

Snakezilla wrote: »

You're dead right Birdnuts and they are damn good at their job. Even though they eat vermin, Id hate to see the magpies disappear, or the fox , jay or any animal vermin or game. But with the big numbers of Buzzard in my area (and theyre bound to get bigger over time) my main concern is them eating easy prey like the poults we work so hard to rear every year. A handful of buzzards in an area isnt going to make much of a dent in 250 pheasants, but 7 circling over one field is a bit of a concern. I could have shot one a few weeks back , it mustnt have seen me and it just landed on a dead ash tree I was approaching from the opposite side. I stood there in awe at the beauty and size of it. Theyre truly amazing. I would never ever raise a gun to one (unless it was coming at me with razor claws :rolleyes:)

I would rather see 1 or 2 than 7

Are you rearing any extra poults for foxes. I don't mean actually for them to eat but for when they do?
Prob doesn't make sense

Birdnuts

Snakezilla wrote: »

You're dead right Birdnuts and they are damn good at their job. Even though they eat vermin, Id hate to see the magpies disappear, or the fox , jay or any animal vermin or game. But with the big numbers of Buzzard in my area (and theyre bound to get bigger over time) my main concern is them eating easy prey like the poults we work so hard to rear every year. A handful of buzzards in an area isnt going to make much of a dent in 250 pheasants, but 7 circling over one field is a bit of a concern. I could have shot one a few weeks back , it mustnt have seen me and it just landed on a dead ash tree I was approaching from the opposite side. I stood there in awe at the beauty and size of it. Theyre truly amazing. I would never ever raise a gun to one (unless it was coming at me with razor claws :rolleyes:)

I would rather see 1 or 2 than 7

At this time of year you will get groups of buzzards just hanging out together and being social post breeding season. These groups are mostly parents with the years juveniles. Its very unlikely the group you saw was actively hunting and BOPS tend to hunt alone unless the are following the plough or mowing machine picking up worms and rodents flushed from their hiding place. By the end of the year the resident pair will have expelled these juveniles and many will not survive the winter anyway for various reasons, same as any other bird. Only buzzards and very occasionally kites of our BOP's form flocks and these flocks give an impression of their being more common than the actually are. Such flocks will have birds from a very wide area and do not represent a local population. The will usually break up again with birds heading back to their own territories

Snakezilla

dodderangler wrote: »

Are you rearing any extra poults for foxes. I don't mean actually for them to eat but for when they do?
Prob doesn't make sense

like instead of rearing 100 , rear 110 just a few extra to be safe kinda thing? I have my own private pen in the garden that I keep 2 cocks and 8 hens all year and change them every year when the time comes so after I hatch the birds for the club if I have any hens still laying I throw the eggs in the incubator and usually end up with 15-25 extra birds. We buy in 270 eggs. Only a handful of us active in the club when it comes to vermin control and rearing the birds is all on me. Plenty of lads active for 3 months of the year though....

Snakezilla

Birdnuts wrote: »

At this time of year you will get groups of buzzards just hanging out together and being social post breeding season. These groups are mostly parents with the years juveniles. Its very unlikely the group you saw was actively hunting and BOPS tend to hunt alone unless the are following the plough or mowing machine picking up worms and rodents flushed from their hiding place. By the end of the year the resident pair will have expelled these juveniles and many will not survive the winter anyway for various reasons, same as any other bird. Only buzzards and very occasionally kites of our BOP's form flocks and these flocks give an impression of their being more common than the actually are. Such flocks will have birds from a very wide area and do not represent a local population. The will usually break up again with birds heading back to their own territories

What size territory would a breeding pair have? or are they solitary until breeding season?

Cass

I'm closing this thread as its been done to death and raptors/birds of prey have no place on a hunting forum.