Are these buzzards

[Words]

I was out at Chichester Marina today, and took a test shot to try and sort out the terrible light. When I got home I looked more closely and I've started to convince myself that there are at least several buzzards in the shot. If anyone can confirm (or otherwise!), it would be appreciated. I did see a buzzard fly over later on, so they are certainly around there.

The birds on the left and right of the frame are the ones that have got me thinking. the ones in the middle look more like pigeons the longer I stare at them

Long shot:


Crop:

[Jason Green]

Sorry words, - I think they may be jackdaws, almost certainly a corvid-type thing. I doubt you'd get a group of that many buzzards at ground-level.

I do this - photograph something - , try and convince myself it's a more exciting species - get excited - then realise -

...

Sorry

[DaiTheDragon]

I think they are Buzzards. They will sometimes feed on worms and it's not unusual to se a few together.

Dai

[Jason Green]

Hi Dai,

So, Buzzards eat worms? Funny, for a big BoP that gracefully soars up high looking for mammals like rabbits, it seems odd that they should leave the sky to scratch around in the grass looking for small worms

Oh, and on closer inspection the colours of the second from left on 'Crop' looks lighter-coloured than a jackdaw would, so if I may join the Buzzard camp

[aeshna5]

Definitely Buzzards + earthworms are an important part of their diet!

[cutecoot]

Well that's a new one on me, I've never heard of Buzzards eating earthworms ... but a quick google search confirmed that they do. When I looked at the photo, the behaviour just seemed quite out of kilter with my knowledge and experience of those birds, but it seems they *may* be buzzards after all? I've certainly learnt something today

[Hedge Witch]

Ooops. I was thinking it was a field of Partridge

[Words]

I'm glad to have started something of a debate, and good to learn a bit more about their habits. If I'd seen them when I took the shot I'd have worked a bit harder (and taken more shots!), but interesting info. I'll put them down as buzzards. Thanks all!

[The Woodman]

Buzzards do eat worms and I only see them stalking the fields when it's wet, in fact they look like bedraggled hens at times. Would they do this when the ground is hard or even frosted?
Have tried to zoom in but the resolution's not good enough to define outline or anything else. Covey of English Partridges was my first guesstimate.

[Words]

Partridges would be good (and a first for me). I'm somehow glad we're off the corvid theory though