Buzzard – most frequently seen raptor

Hiireviu

 

 

 

There is good reason  to begin introducing the main actors in the  year of the buzzards.

 

Rough-legged buzzard (Buteo lagopus): the winter number is estimated to be a couple of hundred up to a thousand individuals.

 

It is no great surprise when we notice the large birds from the car window: sitting in a tree crown or branch or a power pole. Hay bales are good places too for buzzards to watch for small rodents. A buzzard seen on the ground can be there, already with its prey ….

 

The common buzzard is a medium-sized bird of prey with wide wings, a short neck and a tail that is roughly as long as the width of the wing. The females are slightly larger as is usual with birds of prey: body length both over and under half a metre, wing span up to one metre thirty centimetres, and weight up to one kilo. The colours of the plumage vary widely and ornithologists have written about it and made comparisons on the homepage of the Bird of the Year.

 

The rough-legged buzzard is a passing migrant in small numbers in Estonia. Not many spend the winter here but they have been noted by birdwatchers. In summer we don’t meet them since they don’t nest in Estonia.  

 

How to tell the buzzards from each other: LINK

 

Buzzard observations  this winter: LINK

On the map common buzzards are marked in red, rough-legged buzzards in blue and in case of a grey mark the species was not established.