Some people mistakenly
call our native vultures buzzards.
What they may not know is that a buzzard is in fact closely related to a hawk.
Long long ago
when people started moving to North America from Europe they would look at the skies
and say, “Look at the buzzard.” Little
did they realize that the bird soaring overhead wasn’t really a buzzard. It was a vulture that looked similar in
flight to the buzzards found throughout Europe.
Rochester, WBS's Common Buzzard (Photo: Christina Ranken)
A great example
of a buzzard is the Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo.
Common Buzzards are found throughout Europe, extending into Asia. If you ever go to Europe, the best way to spot them is when they are soaring around in
circles, just like our vultures do here in the U.S. Also, the Common Buzzard often will have a “v” shape, with
the ends of their wings well above their backs as they soar—again, just like
our Turkey Vulture here in the U.S.
During mating
season the Common Buzzard male will perform aerial displays to impress a
potential mate, soaring, tumbling, and loop the loop in the sky. This impressive display is called a
“roller coaster”.
After finding a
mate the pair will then build a nest.
The female will lay a clutch of two to four eggs. Common Buzzards do not reach sexual maturity until they are three years old. They are also known to have a life span
of twenty-five years in the wild.
This is quite long for a hawk their size.
This buzzard
falls into two groups—the Eastern group which can be found in the Atlantic
Islands of Cape Verde, the Azores, Canaries and Madeira, east through most of
Europe. The Western group can be
found in northern and central Asia, as far as Japan. There are several subspecies in each group.
These guys are
not a threatened species. As of
2009 the number of wild Common Buzzards estimated
is around 4 million individuals.
Though they are doing great now, they were almost wiped out at one point
in the United Kingdom, due to poaching and loss of food.
Common Buzzards
prefer to eat mammals. Studies
have shown that their favorite food is rabbit. They are opportunistic eaters,
so even though rabbits and other small mammals are
what they prefer, they will eat just about anything they can find, including
snakes, lizards, worms and insects.
We now have a
common buzzard at World Bird Sanctuary’s nature center. His name is Rochester and he is
learning to become an education bird.
Soon he will be traveling with the rest of our crew to teach the public
about Common Buzzards. Be sure to
look for him when you visit the World Bird Sanctuary (link). He usually resides in the weathering
area behind the Nature Center—unless he is traveling to an education program
with our naturalists.
As with all of
our animals, Rochester is available for adoption through our Adopt A Bird
program. Click here if you
would like to adopt Rochester, or call 636-225-4390 XT 0 for further
information on how you may adopt a bird.
Submitted by Christina Ranken, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist
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