Monday 14 March 2016

Buzzard. Buteo buteo. Clamhán.

These are birds I never saw as a child, or for most of my adult life to be honest. These I saw in the distance while driving to the shops this morning.

6 comments:

  1. Buzzards (vultures) are a common site for me. Two varieties. A whole different bird than the one you mention here, though. Yours is much prettier.

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  2. Why have you not seen them before? Are they newly arriving or you just have never happened upon them before. Don't buzzards flying over head seem a bit ominous?
    I was just thinking their picture looks like the hawks we have here, and then I read they ARE called hawks here in N. America. Like Kelly said, they are very different than the vultures we think of when we hear the word buzzard, even though they are part of that group. We have hawks flying around like this - mostly red-tailed and swainson. They have a very distinct look. I don't often stop in my tracks for birds, but these ones are very beautiful.

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    1. Ohh I've seen them. I see a pair fairly regularly where I walk the dog. But they were extinct since 1910ishy, until about 15 years ago. They were closed off on tiny areas from the 50s on until 2000 or so when they dramatically expanded. Everybody see's them now. But rarely in a flock like that.
      They were in my eyeline, over the bonnet of the car when I spotted them off about a mile and a half away. I kept trying to get nearer but the nearest I got was about a mile. Sorry you only get a shape of them.

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  3. Were they hunted to extinction? We've always had lots of buzzards here but I can relate your story to the one of the bald eagle here. They were nearly extinct and in my lifetime they have gone from seeing one every few years was a treat to now they are everywhere.

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    1. Yes, they were seen as killing game birds like grouse, pheasant and partridge. Then they had a rep for killing lambs. False of course, but once a tradition started it was hard to halt.

      Yes I can remember the National Geographic doing a big issue on the major companies who got major kudos and cash to erect nesting platforms along railways and powerline corridors.

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