Buzzards

[annieigma]

My neighbour said he saw a buzzard kill a barn owl. is this common?

[maggiebee]

Not sure if it's a bird or animal but "something" has been regurgitating food in my garden. It's a mixture of feathers and ?. Have seen a buzzard here in the past but only the once. Any ideas?

[melv16]

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bird+pellets+identification&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CDsQsARqFQoTCIKP0oG8kcYCFedu2wodMT4IFA&;biw=1366&bih=653
This could be of some help.

[SlackAlice]

As an aside, early this morning over my local park I was watching a young Sparrow Hawk trying his best to catch an early breakfast. Made me chuckle.

He has got to go back to basics!! The prey were running rings around him.

Mind you, won't be long before he's up to speed

[melv16]

http://www.carnyx.tv/CarnyxWild/WildlifeCameras/YorkshireDales.aspx
There's some kestrel food in the foreground.

[Khandro]

If kestrels feed on voles, why do gamekeepers traditionally shoot them?

"In March 2000, a Holkham Estate gamekeeper was fined £850 for the killing of three kestrels on the estate. He admitted to shooting two birds and poisoning a third with a Carbofuran – baited pheasant carcass because he blamed them for attacking young partridges."

[melv16]

Khandro. Most birds of prey are opportunist feeders, they will take the easiest prey that is presented to them. Eagles, buzzards and kites will eat carrion rather than hunt for it...it conserves energy, especially when prey is hard to find. On a kestrel nest site in Dorset I've seen rats, mice, voles, nestlings, lizards and even a snake brought back to feed the young.
The gamekeeper was probably an old school one where anything with a hooked beak was exterminated.

[Milvus]

Khandro, agree that Buzzards don't necessarily kill with their talons but they need strong a grip to hold large live prey. This they don't have. So live diet is small, field voles etc. You have their diet correct, but diet doesn't equate to live, ill, or dead. This is the RSPB page again as an example http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/b/buzzard/feeding.aspx

[HansUrbancka]

My wife had a relative in Shropshire who, as a youngster, had worked as a gardener on large country estates and had assisted gamekeepers. Consequently, he was taught that, apart from game birds which were raised on an estate, all other feathered life was 'fair game' to be destroyed.

The person concerned became a farmer and hated Magpies because they would steal chickens eggs. His practice was to shoot a magpie and hang it up by the chicken coops, as a warning to other magpies to stay away. He told me that it worked, but admitted that some magpies were Not put off by the his efforts.

Hans.

[Milvus]

Sadly Hans, some still kill Raptors and Corvids. All native wild birds are protected under law now and licenses need to be obtained to trap or shoot Corvids. However illegal killing still goes on. Hen Harriers, Ospreys, Kites, Buzzards and even Golden Eagles have all been killed over the last 2 or 3 years

[Khandro]

We blame the gamekeepers, but their title is exactly what they are, and I guess they are only doing their gig. The real obscenity is raising game birds artificially in order for them to be shot by wealthy people who pay a fortune per day for the privilege and think what they are doing is in someway manly and natural.

[melv16]

Gamekeepered land is very beneficial to birds, especially the ground nesting species. They keep corvids, weasels, stoats and foxes under control, which prey on them. Most gamekeepers know the law & leave the birds of prey alone, but as in most walks of life there's always a rogue element, especially when it concerns goshawks & hen harriers.