One of my little pet peeves about the American English language is the use of the term “buzzard.”
Buzzard is a word that is almost always applied to New World vultures, but this application is not correct.
In the strictest sense, buzzard is a term that applies to the hawks in the genus Buteo. In Eurasia, there is a species called the common buzzard, which looks almost exactly like a red-tailed hawk.
This particular redtail was hanging out on the telephone lines.
Before I snapped this photo, there were two of them. The other was much larger, and it had to have been the female of the pair.
This male hawk has a darker breast than most of his species in this area. Red-tailed hawks vary greatly in appearance, but around these parts, they are the only birds of prey that are this size, which makes them pretty easy to identify.
And lest we forget, in American usage, the name “Chicken Buzzard” is used to refer to 3 kinds of indigenous hawks: the Cooper’s Hawk, the Sharp-shinned Hawk and the Red-tailed Hawk. It never refers to Turkey Vultures or Black Vultures–although vultures will take chicks if given the opportunity.
The funny thing is only Coopers and sharp-shinned are bad about killing chickens. Red-tails here live almost exclusively on rabbits and squirrels.
The eurasian buzzard went from being our commonest raptor to becoming extinct in eastern Britain due to gamekeeper persecution early last century. However, it hung on in the west long enough to thrive again and recover all lost territory once gamekeeping thankfully went out of fashion. One of the lovliest sights in the sky nowadays above the English chiltern hills where I live is that of red kites and buzzards engaging in aerobatics together, both species once more providing a magnificent heart lifting spectacle in England’s skies.
Thanks for sharing that. I don’ think I will be able to see them in Lake District National Park, but Pembrokeshire Coast National Park may offer their colourful aerobatics.
I plan to be in England and Wales next year.
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