Very large bird of prey- Offaly area..??

iPink

Hi, just wondering if anyone has any ideas. ..

my partner & I saw two very large birds of prey circling overhead this afternoon... Don't think they were buzzards as were totally silent. .. in my experience buzzards are quite noisy... also they didn't have those feathers at the ends of their wings that I usually associate with buzzards..!!

Don't think they were kites either (silent hunters) as too big...

Could they possibly have been eagles I wonder? We are between Moate & Athlone in a bog area so nowhere near the coast. .. rules out Sea-eagles & as far as I know Golden eagles were only introduced in Wicklow & Kerry...??

Could be wrong on any or all of the above points so any ideas welcomed. .. my heart always skips a beat & I get such a thrill when I see any kind of bird of prey let alone a really large one!!

TIA

OpenYourEyes

Golden Eagles were only released in Donegal, and just going by the numbers left I doubt it was one of them.

Red Kites have a very noticeable forked tail - worth googling to look at to be sure.

White-tailed Eagle - I wouldn't rule it out - they're in Kerry, Cork, Clare and Galway - not impossible that one could be in that area. Would love one to turn up again near me on Lough Ree.
Did the bird hang around in the same area, or was it constantly moving and 'going somewhere'? It would be more unusual to see a WTSE away from a decent sized river or lake tbh.

Buzzards are way more common than any of the reintroduced birds and the only one of the above that would be 'officially' resident in that part of the country - and habitat-wise are much more likely to be seen on a bog than a WTSE. The light levels and the angles we look at birds can sometimes play tricks and make them seem bigger or smaller than they actually are. Strange that it didn't seem to have the 'fingers' at the end of the wings though - although that too could have been a trick of the light perhaps?
They can often be silent too - noisiness isn't a given!


So with all that in mind I'd be inclined to say it was probably a Buzzard. Worth keeping an eye out there again over the next few days though - I could be wrong!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I would be 90% sure they were Buzzards. They are very often silent.

dodderangler

Buzzards would be the more vocal of the Irish bops but they're not constant.
A lot f the time they're only vocal when it's a pair and communicating with each other as they're hunting.

Eddie B

Big population of Buzzards around that area, so agree with everyone else on this one, more than likely Buzzards!