When you hear or see the word “buzzard”, what do you
think of? Does a picture of a
vulture pop into your mind? I am
going to tell you what buzzard really means in this blog. Also I will focus on a very special
bird and her personal history, species’ natural history, and some wonderful and
quirky facts about this specific bird.
Keeoo, World Bird Sanctuary’s dark morph Augur
Buzzard (photo: Lisbeth Hodges)
The special bird I would like
to introduce is an Augur Buzzard (Buteo augur) and her name is Keeoo.
She is one of my favorite birds that I work with at the World Bird Sanctuary. She was hatched in our
propagation department at the sanctuary in 1992, so this year she is
celebrating her 22nd year at WBS.
She has a great personality.
She is patient with new handlers, curious about her surroundings, and
will vocalize when she recognizes people she knows, like me.
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Augur Buzzard in Flight_Uganda (photo: by Tom Tarrant
from the Wikipdia files)
Augur Buzzards are native to central
Africa, more specifically south Sudan, eastern Congo, Ethiopia, Uganda,
and Somalia. The type of habitat
they thrive in varies from plains to grasslands to forests in Africa. Like many other Birds of Prey, these
beautiful birds are monogamous (one single mate) during breeding season. Some of these birds will even stay
together after the breeding season is over. They build their stick nests on cliffs or in large strong
trees. The female will lay from
one to three eggs per clutch (group of eggs or chicks) and will start to
incubate the first egg immediately after it is laid. Because of this, usually only one chick will survive if all
the eggs hatch. The first chick to
hatch will be older and stronger, therefore fight for more food. The females will stay at the nest with
the clutch most of the time, except when she needs to feed herself. As with all Birds of Prey, they are
carnivores (meat eaters). An Augur
Buzzard’s diet consists of eating small mammals, reptiles, other birds, and
large insects.
A light
morph Augur Buzzard_Lake Manyara, Tanzania (photo: by D. Gordon E. Robertson
from the Wikipedia files)
Now let’s define what buzzard really means. Most Americans see a vulture and
immediately think buzzard. In
Europe, Asia, and Africa buzzards are what people from the U.S. call hawks.
When European settlers came over to North
America, they noticed the vultures and mistook
them for the buzzards they would commonly see in Europe. Unfortunately the
buzzard name stuck with our American vultures. Augur Buzzards are the most common “hawks” in Africa
just like their closely related relative in the United States. If you were thinking the Red-tailed
Hawk as the closely related relative, then you’re right!
A view
of Keeoo’s tail feathers_note the similarity to a Red-tailed Hawk (photo: Gay
Schroer)
View of
Keeoo with wings raised_note the similarity to a Red-tailed Hawk (photo: Gay
Schroer
The lifespan for animals in captivity and in the wild can be
vastly different. Wild animals
will almost always have a shorter lifespan then captive ones. Augur Buzzards range from 20-25 years
in the wild while captive Augurs have been known to live 35-40 years.
These beautiful birds also weigh less than you may
think. They only weigh about 2 – 3
½ lbs (1000g-1500g) with females being larger than the males. It’s also pretty amazing that these
birds can be two different color morphs; a light morph or a dark morph. Keeoo is a dark morph while one of the others
pictured in this blog is a light morph.
Keeoo is available for adoption in our Adopt a Bird
program. To find out more
information, call 636-861-3225 or visit the Adopt A Bird section of our website
HERE.(LINK) All adoption donations
are tax deductible.
This season Keeoo can be seen at the Monsanto
Environmental Education Center (also known as the visitor’s center) at the
World Bird Sanctuary, which is open daily from 8am-5pm. Keeoo is a very beautiful bird. You should stop on by and visit
her!
Submitted by Lisbeth Hodges, World Bird Sanctuary
Naturalist
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