Most welcome buzzard

A sentence in the above suddenly struck home. The sun was shining quite strongly and I wonder if the red spectrum flooded the picture. This is the same picture with a lot of the red removed.

and

More like a buzzard now?

 

sound:
http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/shared/scripts/quicktime.php?url=http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/sounds/buzzard.mov&title=Call


Size: length:- 50-55cm. Wingspan:- up to 1.5m.
He feeds on: small mammals, especially rabbits, voles, but also birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects and worms.


Buzzards hunt during the day and are usually seen on their own, or in pairs. A buzzard spends long periods soaring, holding its straight wings motionless, with the tips of the primary feathers curved upwards and the tail spread out.

The bird has very keen eyesight and as it soars, it scans the ground below for prey. Rabbits are its favourite prey and on spotting one of these, it swoops down quickly and accurately, grasping and killing the animal with its sharp, strong talons. It uses its hooked, pointed beak to rip the flesh from the body. The bird also frequently perches to watch out for prey, keeping an eye out from trees and fence post
(source: "www.yptenc.org.uk")

 

Well the picture in flight cannot be a kestrel. The wing shape is all wrong. Tail is too broad for a hen harrier, so that brings us back to a young buzzard.

 

The legs are Red.A Buzzards legs are yellow as are a Kestrels

 

i'm no expert, its very difficult to ID without something to give it an idea of size.
my initial reaction to the photo's were " thats a kestrel" and even now I still am inclined to say its a kestrel. have just looked at a few photos on flickr and they show a very similar bird to the ones here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/m_geven/249659188/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kukorax/169939255/

hope its of help

glen

[ 23. November 2006, 06:10 PM: Message edited by: glenw ]

 

I keep saying it though. It was three times the size of any kestrel we have ever seen and we don't get kestrels here. We have not seen one in 12 years of bird observing!

 

Think we will have to settle for a buzzard then.

 

I E-mailed someone from the whixall nature reserve and they sent the link to their 'Bird expert'. He thinks Palustris's bird is a kestrel and another one reckons its a juvenile female from this year's brood.

 

Good at least that ends this Mystery once and for all

 

Well done,Geoff!

 

Although I thought it was, I was told it definitely wasn't a kestrel!

 

Never believe what you're told, Strongy


Odd though isn't it! Now we have been told that it is a kestrel by an EXPERT we all believe it.

 

I very much doubt if that's true of Palustris! He's the only one who knows the size of what he saw.

I saw a buzzard yesterday, sitting on a hedge, looking directly out towards the motorway. I've never seen one so close, and from the front like that. The yellow bits are VERY yellow! It also gave me a very accurate picture of the size. I regularly see both kestrels and buzzards on the tops of the tall street-lights near waste-ground (sorry, the "Eco-Park"!) near here - and there's no way you could get them confused.

 

Sorry folks - I'm late coming onto this thread but...

Now THIS is a buzzard!







Quite a few round here and their numbers apear to be increasing. They are usually OK when people are about but very camera shy - the second they see you pointing a lens at them they are off. I was very lucky on this occasion as it spotted something small and squeaky and it banked round.

300mm tele lens - taken 1st September 05

 

Blimey......Great pics Frogs.