Common Buzzard

Although my region of France is home to a large number of Buzzards, I have found photographing them, to be much more difficult than birds in the UK. This has been the same for much of French wildlife and I can only put it down to the fact, that human rural populations in France, are much smaller than in the UK. This has resulted in creatures being far more skittish and nervous of people and therefore more likely to run off . - In the UK, wildlife seems to be much more used to people and will tolerate a much closer approach!

The following images were all taken with my 500mm lens after many days searching for these birds and approaching them as slowly and quietly as possible. Despite that, I have not been able to get closer than a couple of hundred feet.

The Common Buzzard can be found anywhere there are both trees and open spaces. This can be large woodlands or where trees are scattered, such as in agricultural areas. 

The buzzard can give the impression of being a bird that takes things easy, soaring effortlessly on thermal currents or perched motionless in a tree. This shouldn’t fool us, as they are constantly looking and listening for the next meal.

They are flexible, both in what they will eat and the method of capture. The bulk of the Common Buzzard's diet is small mammals, mice and voles, which are caught on the ground. However they also eat birds, reptiles, insects and slugs. Small quantities of cereals and carrion will sometimes be eaten when other food is in short supply and there is evidence that they will occasionally take poultry. They are particularly well known for their method of catching moles by watching for the soil to move, when they will then pounce from their perch. They also locate prey by listening for movements in grass. Like many other raptors, they use their incredible vision to locate prey when gliding at around at an altitude of 100 metres or so.

Here in South West France, the majority of Common Buzzards are sedentary throughout the year and couples will have a territory for life. In winter there will be some increase in numbers when there is a partial migration from both the east and the north-east, which explains why we often see more of them in winter.

From January, couples will choose a new nest site, high in a large tree, or on a rock face within their territory and start their defence of it. The nests are constructed using twigs and small branches, then lined with leaves and grasses. At the same time ritual bonding flights, or displays take place, during which the pair climb high into the sky together making passes, turns and dives.

Breeding starts in the third year, when the female lays 1 to 4 eggs at intervals of 3 or 4 days. It is the female that spends most of the time with the eggs and young, whilst the male only replaces her occasionally. He spends his time hunting for food and defending the nest from interference. Incubation takes about 35 days until the last chick hatches. Initially, prey that is brought to the nest is torn into small pieces before being fed to the young, then when they are about a month old they are given whole prey to deal with themselves. Often the last-born fails to get its fair share and ends up being trampled to death by the others. Even when the young birds fledge, they remain dependent on their parents to provide food for a month or two. 

There are no really serious threats these days for the Common Buzzard, although a certain amount of persecution still continues illegally. This hardly constitutes a serious problem and is more a hangover from the past, with a small number of hunters. Many buzzards that appear to have died in a healthy condition will show evidence of shotgun pellets when x-rayed. Population will vary according to the amount of food available and in poor years, some will move out of the area.

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