- Common buzzards mean two different things in two different countries. In the UK, they’re raptors and in the US, they’re turkey vultures. In this article, we’re talking about the raptors.
- Common buzzard love decorating their nests with fresh greenery and they can be quite picky about the leaves they choose.
- Although they can easily hunt large prey like pigeons and rabbits, common buzzards prefer to eat earthworms and dead meat (carrion). That’s quite a small meal for birds their size.
- Common buzzards weren’t actually that ‘common’ in the 1950s. Food shortage and wide-spread hunting pushed them to near-extinction. But after the implementation of better agricultural practices and the banning of buzzard hunting, these birds have become the largest population of raptors in the UK.
- Buzzards live up to 25 years in the wild.
Bonus
Bird trainers and falconers hate using buzzards for sport as they are very lazy birds. Not only are they very slow at learning to fly at baits, but some buzzards refuse to budge from their seats even when commanded.
-NISHA PRAKASH
Artfully Wild 