Buzzards and Banthams

[nick_rowe]

Hi All,
Has anyone heard of a buzzard taking a bantham before?? My mum is one bantham lighter this evening (her favourite one, and the best layer - isn't it always the way ! ). All that was left was some feathers but NO trail away. She had seen a buzzard nearby earlier that day but we've never known it take one of the hens before. It was in daylight - sunny.
Would a buzzard be able to fly off with the kill (large-ish stocky bantham) and eat it somewhere else? Because like I say there were only feathers left....
By the way, it's great to see these birds around more now - it wasn't that long ago that it was v rare for us to see them (this is just west of worcester, by the way).

Nick

[SteveA]

Buzzards are certainly capable of taking something the size of a bantam and larger. They don't usually specialise in it but the odd rogue bird may return and try again - see if there's a way to increase the security of the poultry - good husbandry and all that

Hen Harriers, even though they are smaller than Buzzards, literally got a bad name for this!

[snowdrop]

I have a large secluded rear garden. One Sunday morning I watched a Pererine Falcon strip the feathers from a large Seagull, eat part of it, and fly away with the rest.

Hope that helps Nick.

[Earth Hart]

Check the feathers to see if they were plucked or bitten off. Buzzards pluck and Foxes bite.

[nick_rowe]

Originally Posted by snowdrop

I have a large secluded rear garden. One Sunday morning I watched a Pererine Falcon strip the feathers from a large Seagull, eat part of it, and fly away with the rest.

Hope that helps Nick.

Errr, yes... Spot on, thanks! Great to see a peregrine in your garden!

I was fairly sure the buzzard could have taken it, I am just interested to hear of other people knowing of this happening before.

Unfortunately we can't do much about protecting from the air as they are all very free range. They are safely shut in every night and up until this year we've lost none (had hens for many, many years). Unfortunately there seems to have been an urban Fox "dumped" nearby earlier this year... And it is ill-prepared for non-urban survival. We suspect it killed most of our previous hens in broad daylight when they weren't shut in. The reason we suspect this is that a few days after this my mum happened to be calling in at a friends house around lunchtime and noticed their cat was corned by the Fox, in the farmyard! Mum leapt out of the car, grabbed the cat and ushered the Fox away. I know my mum is a gentle person but this Fox was either an amazing judge of character and called her bluff, or just had no real fear of humans, and a taste for cat

So we've done some fence improvements to try to keep the Fox out during the day and so far it's worked fine - apart from yesterday's mystery. From how Mum describes it, the feathers seemed plucked, so all in all probably the buzzard, thanks Earth Hart.

Hopefully it's moved on......

[DL]

Ive seen buzzards take out some pretty big prey but they need a large landing zone when attacking at ground level (esp. at speed) and a decent sized one to take off in. They are not exactly agile or quick out of the blocks. In general they dont seem to comfortable about being in enclosed spaces or being near buildings. If you have a big enough clear area they would however certainly be capable of it.

I only ever see them taking prey in enclosed spaces during long spells of very cold weather during winter.

[Mr Mag00]

I watched in awe as a buzzard took a live Rabbit in the Black Mountians, Wales, it was the diving bird that caught my attention. Then took off headed for a tree and enjoyed its meal

[Earth Hart]

Originally Posted by nick_rowe

The reason we suspect this is that a few days after this my mum happened to be calling in at a friends house around lunchtime and noticed their cat was corned by the Fox, in the farmyard! Mum leapt out of the car, grabbed the cat and ushered the Fox away. I know my mum is a gentle person but this Fox was either an amazing judge of character and called her bluff, or just had no real fear of humans, and a taste for cat

So we've done some fence improvements to try to keep the Fox out during the day and so far it's worked fine - apart from yesterday's mystery. From how Mum describes it, the feathers seemed plucked, so all in all probably the buzzard, thanks Earth Hart.

Hopefully it's moved on......

With regards urban foxes, when I lived in Brighton, near the race course, our cats (3) were always out on the Race Hill at night. Our neighbour told us to keep the cats in at night or the foxes would kill them. Imagine my surprise, when I stepped out one night & found a Fox sitting on the wall having a conversation, face to face, with one of our cats, another cat was on the path below & puting in his two penerth. I quietly went in and got my camera & then wife, only to find I had no film left. Still we watched them for about 10mins, until the Fox raised a paw & brushed the cat on the shoulder then jumped down off the wall & nuzzled the other cat before walking down the path & under the gate . I think your Fox must have been one hungry animal to take on the claws of a cat.

[Earth Hart]

As a follow up to the last post,

Brighton is teeming with urban foxes & Badgers. One summer's night I watched a Badger walking down the pavement carrying a take-away carton, it looked like a KFC meal, some 10ft. behind, folowing the Badger was a young Fox and behind him was an old dog Fox. Every now & then the Badger would put down the carton and turned growling at the foxes. The youngster would sit back on his haunches & look up to the sky as much to say "What me mate, I'm just star gazing." The dog Fox just stood still. This went on until they were on the hill away from the lights, when a fight broke out. I don't know who won but next morning as I was out with the dog, we found the box or I should say the dog found it, all that was left were a few chips and a couple of bones.

These last 2 post should be in the mammals forum I think.