Common Buzzard
LET me introduce you to a favourite of mine – the common buzzard, or as they used to call it where I live, the “tourist eagle”.
These large, powerful birds of prey have nearly telescopic vision and can see in full colour, allowing them to spot a rabbit sneaking out of his burrow from over a mile away.
They are so mighty the smaller honey buzzard has been known to mimic the feather patterns of its more common relative as a defence against other predators.
Even the mighty fall though, and buzzards, especially young ones, can succumb to cunning foxes.
THEIR favourite food in the UK is our sweet, hopping bunny rabbit. But buzzards are opportunists who will grab any mammal, reptile and even carrion (creatures that are already dead).
I often see them on fields, especially freshly ploughed ones, trotting around looking for worms and bugs.
Don’t mistake our buzzards with the birds masquerading under the same name in the United States. Americans call buzzards “hawks” – their “buzzards” are actually vultures, causing headaches for international birdwatchers! THEY have huge variations in the colour of their feathers – some birds can be nearly all white, black or even reddish.
You could be mistaken for thinking this big bird is something more exciting, hence the “tourist eagle” moniker, but they are far more common today than in fairly recent times.
They were at the brink 60 or so years ago as rabbit numbers declined and humans hunted them as a pest.
Since persecution was made illegal their numbers have recovered and they can be seen almost anywhere in the British Isles, staking out fields from poles and fence posts.