Buzzards
I had the birds out for only the second time since the end of October today. I let them out at 7.30 this morning and left them on open loft all day. I have decided that this is what I am going to do most of the time this year. What I will do different though is rather than letting the youngsters out with the old birds I will probably just let the youngsters out on their own twice a day. As I’m in the town I can’t have pigeons sat all over the rooftops all summer. I don’t mind a few old birds but not 40 youngsters as well. This afternoon while they were out at one point there were 7 buzzards all together circling high in the sky. The pigeons took no notice of them and seemed totally unfazed. I did have to open the youngbird loft up late this afternoon as some of last year’s youngsters aren’t sure about the old bird trap yet. Of course a lot of my old birds are yearlings and have only known the youngbird loft up until recently. I only had 7 go in there though tonight, all the rest went into the old bird loft fine.
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
What is a 'buzzard', Andy?
I am not sure what the equivalent is here.
The closest I can see from the interweb is the kite, which is a bin chicken. They hover in huge numbers over rubbish dumps.
I am not sure what the equivalent is here.
The closest I can see from the interweb is the kite, which is a bin chicken. They hover in huge numbers over rubbish dumps.
Greetings from the land down under. 
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
The Buzzard is a large eagle type bird. We have lots down this way. They have very large wings and spend a lot of time just gliding around high up in the thermals. They rarely actually use their wings while up in the thermals. They are quite slow so are no threat to the pigeons. They feed on a variety of food but mainly small rodents and can often be seen perched on telegraph poles of tree branches watching for their prey. They will take small youngsters out of crows and rooks nests if they get the opportunity. The good thing about seeing the buzzards is that if their about there will rarely be a peregrine around.
We do have a lot of red kite around here now as well. Again no threat to our pigeons. These can easily be differentiated from the buzzard by their forked tail.
The buzzard
Back just enjoying club racing for the time being.
Good to hear all is going well with the birds Andy.
We have both the Buzzards and Red Kite around here, the crows and Jakdaws certainly don't like them getting too close. The pigeons don't take any notice of the Buzzards but they do get jittery and take flight when they see the Red kite, I know the Kite won't usually go for the pigeons as they mostly feed on carrion but I have seen them have a go at wood pigeons over the farm !!! We also get kestrels around here regularly but none of the above seem to put the Sparrow hawk off hunting down our garden birds or pigeons
We have both the Buzzards and Red Kite around here, the crows and Jakdaws certainly don't like them getting too close. The pigeons don't take any notice of the Buzzards but they do get jittery and take flight when they see the Red kite, I know the Kite won't usually go for the pigeons as they mostly feed on carrion but I have seen them have a go at wood pigeons over the farm !!! We also get kestrels around here regularly but none of the above seem to put the Sparrow hawk off hunting down our garden birds or pigeons
We have a few Peregrines around here but they get a hard time. My wife feeds the magpies, sometimes there are 30 or 40 on the lawn. Some are very tame. They get on well with the pigeons, sometimes sharing the bath.
When a falcon gets too close the magpies get stuck into them and the crows, or ravens really, join in.
It's like the maggies are defending their territory.
When a falcon gets too close the magpies get stuck into them and the crows, or ravens really, join in.
It's like the maggies are defending their territory.
Greetings from the land down under.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Peregrines aren't a problem for me generally but I know there are pairs not too far from me in Brighton to the East and Chichester to the West just far enough to not be an issue for loft flying.
We also have Jakdaws and Crows around us and they certainly are a good early warning signal, we get the odd magpie but not many, they are vicious things.
We also have Jakdaws and Crows around us and they certainly are a good early warning signal, we get the odd magpie but not many, they are vicious things.
The Australian magpie is a large black and white bird, quite handsome and very clever. We have a whole clan of them that we feed, Several generations.
We know quite a few of them by sight. some get very trusting and will eat out of your hand.
They can be aggressive and a lot of people hate them, but they recognize us and and are no bother at all.
It is a bit like a zoo here.
We know quite a few of them by sight. some get very trusting and will eat out of your hand.
They can be aggressive and a lot of people hate them, but they recognize us and and are no bother at all.
It is a bit like a zoo here.
Greetings from the land down under.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.
Blessed is he who expecteth nothing, for verily, he shall not be disappointed.