Birds of prey sightings - ID?

[SJANSELL]

Hi,

Yesterday, while in the garden, we heard a bit of general kerfuffle amongst the birds in the strip of trees by our house. We are in a suburb of Northampton, but have large trees on two sides of us in small conservation strips and there is a country park at the top of the hill about half a kilometre away. The rooks seemed very excitable. A bit later we saw a huge bird circling very high up - we didn't have the camera to hand and we only saw it a couple of times fleetingly, but in profile it had very separated feathers in the wing-tips. We didn't really notice the tail unfortunately. Even more strangely a sparrow hawk appeared to be flying very close to it, diving towards some desperate pidgeons and then a few minutes later we saw two sparrow hawks very high up flying close to each other.

We think we may have sighted the big bird before and will try to get a better grasp of its features next time - is it more likely to be a kite or a buzzard?

And why were two types of birds of prey close to each other - maybe one type taking advantage of the presence of the other, or just coincidence?

Thanks, Sarah and apologies for being vague!

[Hedera]

More likely a coincidence. Buzzards don't take live prey. I've had seagulls fighting off a buzzard over my garden; feathers flew.

[RKB]

Originally Posted by Hedera

Buzzards don't take live prey.

They do. Anything from worms to Pheasants. They've been filmed taking nestling Spotted Flycatchers! A lot of their diet is invertebrates and carrion, but some isn't.

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by SJANSELL

And why were two types of birds of prey close to each other - maybe one type taking advantage of the presence of the other, or just coincidence?

Hi Sarah,

It's not unusual for several species of raptor to use the same thermal when soaring.

Cheers
Jonathan

[Black Tern]

Originally Posted by Hedera

Buzzards don't take live prey.

Originally Posted by RKB

They do. Anything from worms to Pheasants. They've been filmed taking nestling Spotted Flycatchers! A lot of their diet is invertebrates and carrion, but some isn't.

Yes, buzzards certainly do take live prey! I've seen them catch young rabbits, other small mammals, even a young rook and worms in winter are a mainstay of their diet.

[faz]

[quote=Hedera;659862]More likely a coincidence. Buzzards don't take live prey. I've had seagulls fighting off a buzzard over my garden; feathers flew




seagull ? no such thing is there, buzzards do take live preay from worms to corvids small young rabbits and rats

its not uncommon to see othe birds of prey in the same air space but in genral the bigger will chase off or kill the smaller as a source of food

[bob.phillips]

Yes, I agree your description is a bit vague. Comments here relating to buzzards taking live prey are of course valid. But was it a kite ( red ) or a buzzard. The differences are quite marked. The buzzard, although large is quite a 'chunky' looking bird. Wings are deep ( fat ). A kite is much more sleek - long thin wings and ( usually ) more variations in colour. A major difference is also the tail - deep fork for a red kite, but I see you did not notice the tail.

Reintroduction of the red kite took place along the M40 and the further away from that, the more unlikely their occurance. We get them occasionally around Milton Keynes, but they may be quite rare in Northampton.

Hope this helps,

Bob P.

[SJANSELL]

Hi, thanks to everyone and especially Bob for the description of kites and buzzards - I shall look more closely next time. My feeling is that it's a kite rather than a buzzard, as the wings looked thin and almost ragged.

We have so many trees round us that we often only see a bird flying high for a few seconds as it passes over us. We'll try to focus on the tail next time.

The sparrow hawks are fairly common visitors, and have come down into our garden a few times when the smaller birds are around our feeders. I have also seen them catch pigeons.

After a quick search I see Rockingham Forest has kites - maybe they are spreading across the county.

Sarah

[RKB]

Originally Posted by bob.phillips

Reintroduction of the red kite took place along the M40 and the further away from that, the more unlikely their occurance. We get them occasionally around Milton Keynes, but they may be quite rare in Northampton.

Bob P.

There was another early release site at Rockingham Forest, close to Northampton (Corby/Kettering) where they are also pretty common now. They also breed close to Milton Keynes (I see them regularly near Buckingham).

The Sparrowhawks might have been mobbing the kite/buzzard if it was close to their nesting site - they have been doing this a lot near me. Or they may have been using the same thermal to gain height. It's not uncommon to see several raptor species riding the same thermal - known as 'kettling' (not the same kettling as the Met Police do to protestors before killing a newspaper seller...)

[2dogs2000]

I live in Corby and see red kites flying over most days. They are regularly mobbed by a pair of crows that nest near by.