The common buzzard is a medium-sized diurnal bird of prey and typically seen soaring high above woodland, grassland or farmland. They usually have brown upperparts and paler underparts, with large rounded wings and a short fan-shaped tail.  The black beak is sharp and hooked and it has a brownish-yellow eye and large yellow legs and feet with sharp talons.

Behaviour

The common buzzard is solitary except during the breeding season (March to May). In spring (as early as February), males twist and turn in the air while they fly up and down, to impress females. This aerial dance is known as “the roller coaster”. Common buzzards form monogamous couples that last for a lifetime.

Buzzards are opportunistic predators and can take a wide variety of prey. Small rodents such as voles and mice are commonly eaten, but they can also take prey as large as rabbits or as small as earthworms.

The common buzzard has a very distinctive call, like a cat’s meow, and a distinctive flying shape. It is these characteristics which can be used to distinguish it from other birds of prey such as, the red kite, harriers or even juvenile golden eagles. When soaring and gliding, the tail is fanned and its wings are often held in a shallow ‘V’.

Size

• Length: 51-57cm
• Wingspan 113-128cm
• Average weight: 550-1000g (male), 700-1300g (female)
• Average lifespan: 12 years (can reach an age of 25 years)

Status

Classified in the UK as Green under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015); Protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Legal protection and a reduction in pesticides have allowed buzzards to recover from persecution in the mid-20th Century.

Distribution

Buzzards can be found across the UK and can survive in most habitats. In Scotland, the common buzzard is a resident breeder in almost all areas of mainland Scotland, except high mountain tops and built-up areas. It is absent from Shetland, except as a passage migrant and only a few pairs breed on Orkney. Some populations of common buzzard spend the entire year in the same area, while others migrate to the south before the winter.

Once restricted largely to the west and north of mainland Britain, recent years (since mid-1990s), have seen an expansion of these birds to the east, where breeding pairs are now found in Fife, Lothian and Borders.

When to see

January to December; buzzards are relatively easy birds to see and it’s quite possible that their presence is given away by their high-pitched ‘kee-yaaa’ call.

Facts

• It is thought that the buzzard is now the UK’s commonest bird of prey found in almost all counties.
• Buzzards have remarkably variable plumage. Most individuals are brown, but some can be creamy-white, reddish-brown or blackish-brown and covered with various light and dark markings. They all have a finely barred tail and dark wingtips.
• An established breeding pair of buzzards might return to an ‘old’ nest, or re-use one of 2-3 alternative nest sites they will have made, which they refurbish around February/March.
• There are considered to be eleven valid sub-species of the common buzzard. Bueto buteo buteo found in Scotland and throughout the British Isles belongs to the western buteo group which consists largely of resident or short-distance migrants.