The Common Buzzard: A Micro - Documentary
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- čas přidán 8. 09. 2024
- As Britain's most common bird of prey, if you haven't seen a wild buzzard, you haven't been looking up. But how much do you really know about this fascinating species?
Join our Buzzard Neo with Centre Director Naomi Johns, to find out more about the life of a wild Buzzard, their anatomy, reproduction and the importance of the species in conservation.
This "micro" documentary on the Common Buzzard is excellent. Full of facts, well presented and produced. Thank you Neo & Naomi.
Thank you for the comment! We're really pleased you enjoyed the micro-documentary. You can check out the second micro-documentary on our channel with Casper the Kestrel!
This young lady should be a top TV presenter!! A lovely interesting voice!
Beautiful little documentary!
Many thanks ♥️
Thank you very much for your kind comments! Glad you enjoyed it! Check out our channel for more.
@@birdofpreyproject
Obviously! ❤️😊
Here in Tipperary Ireland we have had an explosion of them in just the past 5 years.. Cant believe how quickly there numbers have grown really.. Me and my dad take great interest in there behaviour. My dads a hunter but doesn't mind them at all.. In fact last year he found one injured we think, in the field behind our house.. Big field next door to a fairy fort where a big family of them are nesting !!
Dad walks his hunting dogs in that area every evening.. He spotted the young female on the ground but instead of flying away, she just hopped into the bushes.. Same thing the next evening, she was in the same place and just hopped into the hedge to get away from him.. The next day we came to the conclusion that something was wrong with her, so he shot a rabbit and offered her bits of it.. She pounced on the carcass bits he gave her and eat it very quickly.. The day after she was gone.. Hopefully not taken by a fox.. Not sure what was wrong with her.. We thought maybe a damaged wing or got kicked out of the nest maybe..
Thank you for the comment! Sorry for the late reply looks like we missed it! Great news to hear that you are seeing lots of Buzzards near your home. Well done for doing your best to help the Buzzard. Sadly many struggle in the colder months of the year, so whilst it could have been an injury, she may have just been hungry and in need of a meal. Keep up the interest!
Beautiful birds. This is brilliant content and you deserve many many more subscribers!
Thank you so much Mondo! We really appreciate it.
What a beautiful and graceful bird, I see loads of buzzards in the woodlands nearby, along with Red Kites too, great documentary btw.
Thank you for the kind comments, and so pleased to hear you are spotting some of our native raptors out and about.
You are an excellent presenter. Keep up your great work Naomi.
Thanks!
this video should have far more views than it has .. brilliant info
Thank you so much!
I saved a buzzard from my swimming pool today and I live in Riverside, California. I am taking him to a wild bird rescue tomorrow; my experience with him has been great as he is gentle and allowed us to help him.
Best of luck to him for a full recovery!
Lovely video, interesting and very well delivered. Thank you for the work you do.
Hi Peter, Thank you for your lovely comment, so pleased you enjoyed it.
Saw a hovering buzzard today, over a field beside a motorway (South East Ireland). It dived for a kill... I was rather distracted and meant to be driving. I've seen buzzards many times around the areas I grew up in Scotland, but my passengers were dubious at my instant ident, especially considering I was doing 100kph at the time! This was the best video I could find to back up my classification. Thank you!
Great video. Here where I live in Ireland, I saw 6 of them flying over my house yesterday. Most I’ve ever seen, and suggests they’re thriving here. I love that plaintive call they make - so unique and wonderful. Long may it last.
Hi Kevin, Thank you for your comment. It is great to hear about the Buzzards in your area. They are indeed, always a joy to watch!
I’m a veterinary student from Italy. I’m doing an experimental study as my degree’s thesis, this video was really interesting. Love from Pisa
Hi Leonardo, Really pleased you enjoyed the video and hopefully helpful also. Best of luck with your thesis! Best wishes from England.
Very well documented i really enjoyed it
Thank you Gavin, so pleased you enjoyed it.
Fantastic! What a beautiful creature. Love seeing the buzzards and red kites when I’m hiking.
Thank you! Buzzards are incredible, hopefully we can enjoy watching them in the countryside for many years to come.
We live in South West Scotland and hardly a day goes by without seeing one buzzard. We have a game: the first person to see a buzzard each day has to shout out "buzzard" to win.
Sounds like a great game!
We do something similar (well, more boring) here in northern Northamptonshire when we see a Red Kite (I see a dozen a day but have only seen a Buzzard once) we feel obliged to mention that we see a Red Kite every time one appears
Well made informative info. First time I saw a pair of these common buzzards I think . They were high in the skylines close to my house near Leicester city. I was hooked seeing them gliding and swaying and showing off diving effortlesly. My daughter loved watching them.
Hi Muna, thank you for your comment, so pleased you enjoyed the video. So lovely to hear of your experience spotting wild Buzzards - fantastic! Glad your daughter enjoyed seeing them too. All the best,
Naomi
@@birdofpreyproject thanks to people like you. Making the public aware of these beautiful creatures. As I live close to the city, we rarely get to see wildlife . So it’s an eye opener ! Wish you all the best in future I do admire people like you. All the best Naomi
@@l4rka1 That is very kind of you, thank you. If you ever manage to escape to rural Somerset come and see us!
@@birdofpreyproject thanks that’s very nice of you
This is a great video. Thank you! I live in South Leicestershire and we have a small wooded area that backs on to wider farmland. There has been a breeding pair in there (I have seen others as well) for a good few years.
The female is a huge bird and can often frighten you to death if you are walking through the woods and she swoops past through the low trees.
Hi Andreas, thank you for your comment and kind words. So pleased you enjoyed the video. Great to hear that you are spotting wild buzzards! Keep up the interest.
Beautiful documentary, well done ❣️👌
Thank you, so glad you enjoyed it
Thanks, very informative.
Cheers, you do great work ,tha is for the deeper understanding of this lovley and original buteo
Side question ,can you age a buzzard from its eyes? If not how do you put an age on a buzzy
And has anybody been successful hawking with them?
@@dannydempsey8900 Thank you for the kind words Danny, you can age buzzards up to a point from eye colour and plumage (usually just years 1-3), but unlike Accipiters their eyes do not change drastically enough to make it obvious. A few falconers have had limited success hunting with them, but as they largely feed off small prey items and carrion in the wild, there are other species much better suited for the job.
Great Stuff. Very good videos.
Thank you! Glad you are enjoying them.
Great docomentary.very informative,its so good to see the numbers increasing. Thanks for posting,best wishes🦉
Glad you enjoyed it Danny!
Saw one today close up with my eyes. It was feeding on a roadkill. I had to Google it because this isn't my field. At first I thought it was an eagle. It was a big beautiful thing. More impressive than the Kestrel which are common on the south downs. Sussex countryside has great wildlife.
Fantastic spot, they certainly are large birds and it can be quite humbling to be in close proximity to them. Keep an eye out for our next micro-documentary about Kestrels!
Excellent! Love this. There are buzzards with a nest close to my house and I hear them calling every day so it's nice hearing what they actually do. Thank you!
Fantastic to hear! So glad you enjoyed the video!
I saw a Buzzard high up in a tree today in Green Park, Bath, Somerset! I viewed it through my binoculars- I was thrilled to see it! Thank you for this wonderful informative video!! Many thanks for sharing!!!!
So pleased to hear it Simon! Keep your eyes peeled for those Buzzards! Thank you for your kind words.
Great vid, very interesting thank you. Love seeing buzzards, they look so majestic. they have become a lot more common where I live. 10 years back it was so rare to see one. Now I see one most days and even saw twelve circling together not long back.
Hi, Thank you for the comment, glad you enjoyed the video! Yes Buzzards have made a remarkable in recovery in recent years, now they are able to maintain a stable, healthy population. But we must make sure we keep it that way.
Excellent! 👏🏻
So glad you enjoyed the video Kevin!
@@birdofpreyproject You can't miss these from the roadside. If one of them fixed a steely gaze on me then I'd be very frightened 😐
I was driving on the motorway the other day and saw a huge bird fly in front of my windscreen! It was too big to be a sparrow-hawk so it had to be a buzzard! These guys are definitely bigger than what some pictures make out to be!
Fantastic, great spot. You will often see Buzzards soaring over roads in the countryside
Hi everyone at the falconry wishing you all a Happy New year best wishes keep up the great work that you do .
Hi Neil,
Thank you very much! Wishing you a very happy New Year too! We will do our very best to do that.
These are my favorite birds! Sadly in Benelux they've gotten a bit of a bad name because they have attacked hikers quite often. But i love them! I've only seen them like 2-3 times in the wild so far. Hope i spot another one soon!
Thank you for the comment! They are amazing birds. I hope you manage to spot another one soon.
@@birdofpreyprojectHere i am again, i saw one today! These birds are so glorious. I was cycling and it was sitting on a cut off tree overlooking a farm field! It actually was quite close to where i passed and it just remained seated without moving haha!
@@MotocrossRacingOnline Great news! Keep looking out for them.
Superb Naomi! Looking forward to more in this series. Nicely shot and edited. :)
Thank you Matt! So glad you enjoyed it, watch this space for more!
@@birdofpreyproject I certainly will! 😊👍
Great video, thank you so much for putting it together. full of facts and figures that I didn't know. i live in the midlands (Worcestershire) and our Buzzard population has really increased in the last few years, I really enjoy seeing them soar overhead, so graceful.
So glad you enjoy seeing them John! Thank you for your kind comments.
@@birdofpreyproject As a teenager some lads (who should have known better)took a tawny owl from a nest and then realised they couldn't look after it. I took it in and successfully reared it until it could be reintroduced into the wild. It really impressed me as to the power of birds of prey, and now even though I've recently retired, I often think about that experience with a fondness.
@@pepidonk Great to hear of your story and your passion.
Hi I see a buzzard circling and flying high above Willesden north west London. There are many seagulls here and they all scatter when the buzzard is flying. Such a joy to see it here in the city. Not sure if it is a buzzard but it fly's very high and circles are cruises around for a long time
thank you! subbed
Thanks!
What magnificent birds they are. Very insightful, thank you.
I often see Buzzards in the area I live there was one flying over as I was on my way into town then I saw one again where I went walking towards Rivington near Chorley flying in circles around tall trees in a field calling out they are beautiful birds and fascinating
I'm in Wiltshire and I see buzzards most days. They are shooed off my area by gulls they sound like cats in combat 👍🏻
Neo is gorgeous, and although I love to see buzzards, they are being overtaken in our area by red kites.
Buzzards do get a lot of grief from gulls and corvids. Good to hear Red Kites are on the up in your area!
really like you're contect
This is an amazing video! Very interesting, thank you for making it.
I have a beading pair on my land and they are quite clever at spotting me, with the mower and catching the rodents that flee.
Fantastic, yes they definitely have learned the benefits of following people and machinery for the rodents and worms!
I seen 13 of these today, and a pair of peregrines.
Fantastic!
Hello Naomi. I came across your video as I am searching for some answers about buzzards that puzzles me. My girlfriend and I live in the country and we are surrounded by buzzards. Somedays I can see 5 or 6 of them all soaring at the same time right where we live. We are runners and have a great amount of trails we can access right from our front door. The access to all of the trails is via a track just 300 metres from our house. The first 50 metres of the track passes between some tall trees before emerging into open fields. For the past few years, I have found that a buzzard has been swooping down over my head as I pass through the trees. It comes really close to my head, about 20 - 30cms and really makes me jump as it swooshes past. This is not just an isolted incidence, I run 2 - 3 times a week and the buzzard goes for me about 1 time in 3. Just recently this activity has changed. The buzzard is now physically attacking me and my girlfriend with its talons. Before I enter into the trees, I look all around in the sky and tree tops. I never see it but it just silently swoops down out of nowhere through the trees and whacks me on the back of the head. It's first attack is always from behind, its like being hit with a baseball bat. Then it repeatedly attacks until we leave the trees. My girlfriend was attacked a week ago and is now terrified of going through those trees. I am assuming it is one solitary bird doing this but don't know if it is male or female. My question is why would it do this? Why does it see us as a threat? I have looked at all the treetops in that location and I don't see any obvious nesting sites. Besides, it is not nesting season and this happens year round. I never see the buzzards sitting in these trees, I'm guessing that when it attacks it comes from some distance away as they fly so fast. There was one instance when I went running down a lane in a different direction but still about 300 metres from home and the buzzard got me there as well.
Hi Steve - thank you for your comment - it is definitely very unusual to hear about Buzzards making an attack on people. It is possible that they have a nest site very close indeed. They will be territorial of a nesting site all year round but peak in the Spring in Summer when they have young chicks.
@@birdofpreyproject Thanks for your reply. We will keep a look out for the nest.
Beautiful 😍
Thank you Becca, so glad you enjoyed it.
They are everywhere here in Germany, I have just had to buy a hawk safety harness for my puppy as a buzzard dive bombed and hit my back door, just missing my puppy who is 12 weeks old now. This happened yesterday, they are amazing birds but I never ever expected one to have done that. if you want to see the puppy it tried to take, search huge morphing wolf drinks, thats my little black Leonard, luckily not buzzards dinner and never will be now, hopefully thanks to this harness
I've believe I've just seen two again above my home 🏡 🙏
They are fantastic to see & one took a fast dive wings folded together & was moving very fast, I've seen other birds go far in 180° to avoid them, flying together beautiful to see
Nice one
Thanks! Keep an eye out for the next film in the series... Coming soon.
@@birdofpreyproject cool, will look out for that!
Always been a lover of the buzzard .great clip thanks for that. From wales didn't see too many in my area mainly kestrels. Moved to Dublin didn't see too many either . Now in poland and every day they are practically on my doorstep fantastic to watch with a distinctive calling sound. . And one or two surprisingly big or look bigger . I am a bit surprised that I have heard a calling sound and have seen 4 together within minutes of the call is this common as I thought they separated. Or would it have still been the young coming together. Maybe someone could explain .
Hi Neil, Thanks for the comment. Buzzards will often stay with their young for quite a long time after they have reached full size, and you will often see both parents and young buzzards well into the autumn. Whilst they are 'solitary' in the winter, they are usually quite tolerant of sharing airspace with other buzzards when not defending nesting territories. Sometimes you will see 10 or 15 at a time if you are lucky! We hope you continue to enjoy watching the buzzards and other raptors!
@@birdofpreyproject thank you so much for taking the time to reply and your information keep up the good work regards. Neil
@@neilfry7095 No problem, happy to help. Thank you for your support!
Long comment but, a more likely answer is that the 4 buzzards you were seeing were siblings staying together. Not their parents. Actually parents prefer to avoid their children.
Really interesting thank you! Learned a lot! We live in a small rural town in Somerset with a small amount of woodland just off the town centre. We’ve seen the same buzzard many times recently even very close to the centre of town by the river. Think it’s a male and seems not to be bothered at all by people.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Great to hear you are spotting wild Buzzards! They are forever the opportunists and especially when hungry are not phased so much by people at a safe distance especially if they know there are easy prey items around.
They don't bother with rats or mice here more fond of our pheasants partridge and other birds
Hi Dallan, thanks for the comment. Buzzards are opportunists and will make the most of easy hunting opportunities. This could be plenty of rodents and they do take occasional game birds but not very many as they aren't as well adapted for hunting avian prey compared to other raptor species.
Amazing video! I've been seeing 3 young birds similar to young buzzards hunting around my house. I live in thee city of Brussels, so that seemed odd. What do you think?
Thank you for the comment Tomas! Could well be Common Buzzards in your country. If you get any photos or videos we would be happy to ID them for you.
@@birdofpreyproject only from very far but their call are audible. I'll send you.
I wonder the extent to which they compete against Red Kites, which have exploded in number recently.
Red Kites and Buzzards are generally relatively happy to co-exist and you will often see them sharing thermals and soaring together, as neither species are particularly active hunters, preferring carrion or smaller prey items. They can of course be more territorial around their nesting sites. At the moment both population are in healthy numbers so no serious evidence to suggest one is out competing the other.
I enjoyed that.
I would have thought the tawny owl is the most common bird of prey. I hear several Tawny Owls every single night. And I live in a town on the west coast were there is not many trees. I haven’t seen a buzzard in years and the last time I did see one was in the country side. I’ve seen more peregrine falcons in the last 10 years than I have saw any other bird of prey. I see them in my town breeding on a tall spire in my town.
Given time I think peregrines will become almost as common as tawny owls and buzzards. Theres plenty of tall buildings to nest on and plenty of pigeons for prey. We can only hope. Fingers crossed.🤞
Thank you so much for this micro documentary on Buteo Buteo. When is the maxi version coming out?
I live in rural Nottinghamshire, and in April in a certain place I have seen up to 14 Buzzards all soaring at different heights in the same place. Will these be family groups or courting couples?
Glad you enjoyed the video! Check out our channel for more micro-documentaries. Perhaps a maxi version coming out soon... Watch this space.
Buzzards will often soar in family groups through the summer and in the early autumn, but they rarely have any more then two perhaps three young birds that reach this stage of development. However they will ride thermals to look for food, and outside of the breeding and early nesting season they are quite tolerant of sharing air space with other buzzards, especially if there is a lot of food around. That is when you can see large numbers of them together, they are probably all using an effective thermal to spot potential meals down below.
I live newark and i see so many im lucky i have horses so see a lot of buzzards , good to see
Early in the nesting season is the time of great territorial behavior. Not the opposite.
I saw a pair from a bus, between Winterton and Somerton, Norfolk.
Love Buzzards, but it is the Red Kite I see more of around my way
Really informative video. I learned a lot. We have the privilege of having a beautiful Buzzard that lives around our land in East of England. Think it must be a female as she is very large and flies around continuously calling. Is she trying to find a mate?
Hi Sven,
Thank you very much, wonderful to hear that you enjoy watching buzzards from your home!
They can call quite frequently this time of year, either to a mate, to their parents or as a territorial call.
Silly question. Is the 'gizzard' also called a 'crop'?
Not a silly question at all, it is not a crop, but another organ in the digestive tract where food is broken down before being passed to the proventriculus (similar to our stomach).
Very similar to our red tailed hawk in North America. I always wondered why some 'birders' seem unimpressed by the CB. They are beautiful and very successful.
One just swoop in my back garden trying to catch the baby starlings. Amazing but so scary as it was huge and had to distract it away. Will it come back now it knows they are there?
Hi Julia, If you saw a hawk chasing starlings it's more likely to be a Sparrowhawk than a Buzzard. It can be sad sometimes to watch, but it's natural for them to hunt small birds and they will return to areas where they are populous. Sit back and enjoy nature and the ecosystem as it is.
@@birdofpreyproject thank you. A sparrowhawk literally just missed my head yesterday morning. It was much smaller than the other bird the other day with a different tail. I havent seen the buzzard again. And yes its nature, circle of life. I just love all animals.
@@birdofpreyproject I definitely have encouraged an ecosystem so many birds a d hedgehogs at night. They make my day!
I am incredibly lucky
@@lifeontheedge2444 Fantastic! keep up the brilliant work. Great to hear about a thriving and appreciated ecosystem.
I currently am looking after a common buzzard , Approximately one year old He was found laid in a field with one leg missing ,The vets wanted to euthanise him saying he would probably not survive in the wild so I decided to take him in , it’s only been a few months but he’s doing well and now seems to be settling in and calm around me .
I see them every day on the farm where I live in Herefordshire. This documentary has really helped me to understand them. One question. Are they territorial? Am I seeing the same pair?
Do buzzards make good companion birds. A bird less prey driven then a Harris goshawk let’s say? Could it be trained to a good standard to fly casually and obviously try to catch the prey item from time to time? But not purely trained for hunting?
I always confuse these guys for hawks.
They can look similar from afar but the trick is spotting the large, broad wings, fan shaped tail and brown plumage. If you see all those things in the UK, it's probably a buzzard!
Funny question, why the freaking hell is this bird being called a buzzard in the first place? In the Americas they are known as hawks much like the Accipiterines. Is it because they mob people who come too close to their nests? Is it because they make a buzzing sound when they are flying or singing? Or is it some kind of unlucky superstition? Or was this bird used to be just a nickname for them?
Hi, they are called Buzzards as a derivative of the french word 'buison' which derived from the latin word 'buteo' meaning hawk. Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is of the same genus as the Red Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
@@birdofpreyproject I know that this a buzzard video but it is quite ironic that the buzzard isn't the biggest hawk in England, the Goose-hawk (Goshawk) is and it dwarfs both the buzzard and the Sparrow-hawk in both size and attitude towards them unlike in North America where the red tailed hawk does the dominanting.
Are they good ratters
I'm looking to entice one for photos but would the eat chicken thighs? would love to leave them something to eat and photograph them. Excellent video.
Great to hear you are an enthusiastic photographer! But we'd recommend not leaving food out for wild birds of prey like Buzzards. Patience and a hide at your local RSPB reserve would be my best advice. Or if you want to skip the patience part come and visit us to photograph Neo!
@@birdofpreyproject Thank you, wasn't sure it was such a great idea hence me running it past you first. I know where they are nesting but aint going near them as I don't want to disturbe them, so for now flight photos only I think until I come to see Neo ;-)
@@EnidAgnusDei Great stuff! Can't wait to see those flight photos!!
@@birdofpreyproject Dunno where to post them so you can see them is the problem.
Can you train them for hunt
They will hunt naturally as they do in the wild, and some falconers have hunted with them, but they are not a popular hunting hawk as many prefer predating small rodents or searching for carrion than hunting large prey items.
The guys trying to catch raptor killers need to step up their game. How many pictures of trapped and killed birds do you need. Photo the killers or get people that can.
A buzzard or a sparrowhawk hunts in my garden 🧐
got imprint male wild tame hack
Nice one,shame they kill them in parts of the country. lovely birds i try to photograph them every day,yep 7 days a week.
Hi Roger, yes, sadly Raptor persecution does still go on thanks to a very small percentage of the population and it is something we very much stand against. Keep up your passion for wildlife and photography.
I am so lucky living here, last week i counted 41 birds in photo distance!!! 50 feet from my back door!!@@birdofpreyproject
I am on talking terms with all of them!! one of them flies with a buzzard, is that normal?
Merci pour la vidéo de la buse variable ps Je suis belge j'ai observé un nid de buse variable et j'ai comprend pas anglais dommage je comprends que le français 😉
Looks like a hawk not buzzard.
Hi Sharon, he is a Buzzard, I promise :)
And what about him makes you think he's not a buzzard? He's a very typical example of one.
@@kpina2081 Guess I'm used to a turkey buzzard. This one just looks like a hawk to me.
@@sharonw4325
That's because what you call "buzzards" are actually vultures. When Europeans first came to America, they mistook a vulture for a buzzard. The name stuck, and is still incorrect.
So, what you call "hawks" are actually buzzards (which are still a type of hawk, among many others), and your "buzzards" are vultures.
Call me blind, but I see a scaled down golden eagle.