At long last I finally got a shot of one!!!

[lostprophet]

.

 

[~Stella~]

Wow - your "buzzards" must be different from ours. That bird is quite lovely; ours are much less so. Congrats on your long-sought capture.

Not a good shot of a Turkey Vulture (aka Buzzard), but you get the idea: he has a face only his momma could love.

 

[Antarctican]

I agree with the previous poster...a buzzard in North America is quite an ugly bird. As opposed to the one you have in your image is quite pretty. I'm glad it decided to cooperate

 

[matt-l]

Im liking all these uploads LP...Keep it up!!!

 

[Phranquey]

I agree with the previous poster...a buzzard in North America is quite an ugly bird. As opposed to the one you have in your image is quite pretty. I'm glad it decided to cooperate

:thumbup: Buzzards over here are nasty looking creatures. I was thinking that you mis-identified, since I've never seen a buzzard look that good, but you are correct....Buteo buteo (Common buzzard)

Buteo buteo - Google Image Search

That looks like some of our prettier hawks. Very nice.

 

[dxqcanada]

Based on the head ,beak and tail, I would second the motion that this is a Hawk ... though I am not sure what type.

 

[Ron Evers]

Based on the head ,beak and tail, I would second the motion that this is a Hawk ... though I am not sure what type.

Exactly what I thought as well, so I consulted with "our" bird expert & this is her reply:

"
Mon Jan 12, 2009 7:12 pm

Ron Evers wrote:This guy calls the bird he photographed a Buzzard; it looks like some type of hawk to me. What say you?

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/nature-wildlife/152286-long-last-i-finally-got-shot-one.html
​

Sorry folks but the poster is correct in his identification. The bird in his photo is indeed a Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo. Note that the poster is from the UK.

When people from the UK settled this country, they saw birds here and named them by appearance which still causes a bit of confusion to many people.

A buzzard by definition is a bird that has a fully feathered head, captures their own prey and rarely eats carrion.

The term "hawk" was applied randomly to many different species of large birds in the New World, including Sharp-shinned Hawks (actually an accipiter) Red-tailed Hawks (actually in the same genus as the Common Buzzard in the photo) and our native harriers and falcons. They were all called hawks even though the accipters were the only true hawks.

What you are all thinking of as being a "buzzard" is actually a New World Vulture and they are not true buzzards. It's a slang term for them only.

New World Vultures, the ones you see flying around overhead in the summer, Turkey Vultures, include in their family condors and are related to storks.

Old World Vultures (like the one in MLady's link) are not related to our vultures at all, but are related to buzzards but are never called that except in old westerns and Bugs Bunny Cartoons.

So, the settlers came over and started naming birds with common names and the names stuck and it's been creating confusion ever since. But if you look at the Latin name then the confusion is cleared up.

The bird in Ron's linked photo is Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo
And our Red-tailed Hawk is Buteo jamaicensis

Note the similarities. Hope this helps clears up the confusion.

 

[dxqcanada]

... now that was helpful info.

Lostprofit ... nice Buzzard shots.

 

[eminart]

Holy crap. You learn something new every day. Thanks for the pics, and for the info guys. I'll now start calling red-tailed "hawks", "buzzards" and "buzzards", "turkey vultures" just to be correct.

 

[~Stella~]

To confuse everyone further, my 5 and 3 year olds insist on calling our turkey vultures (as featured above), "eagles." To be fair, they are quite majestic while soaring above...until you see them close up.

 

[Phranquey]

The one thing that really amazed me was the similarities of your Common Buzzard to our Swainson's Hawk. Look at the picture in this link, and compare to the OP....

Google Image Result for http://www.migrationresearch.org/research/swainson/swha%20profile%20page%20photo.jpg


The Swainson's is also a Buteo.....Buteo swainsoni, hence the confusion on ID....If your buzzard were on this side of the pond, it would be labeled as a Hawk, kinda like your boot vs our trunk on a car.

EDIT: found these:

The other Buteos over here are the:

Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus
Broad-winged Hawk Buteo platypterus
Short-tailed Hawk Buteo brachyurus
Swainson's Hawk Buteo swainsoni
White-tailed Hawk Buteo albicaudatus
Zone-tailed Hawk Buteo albonotatus
Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
Ferruginous Hawk Buteo regalis
Rough-legged Hawk Buteo lagopus

 

[doenoe]

hehe pretty funny to see all those different names. We call those birds from the OP buzzards too (well, actually we call them Buizerds, but it translates to Buzzards), so it wasnt confusing for me.
Anyways, great shots Andy. I have been chasing a buzzard in the time i was doing my internship at the birds of prey thing. Pretty stupid, i had all kinds of different birds of prey in hand reach and i had to go for the one that was flying around in the wild :er: I never got the shot though. Good to see that you have, awesome looking birds :thumbup:

 

[matt-l]

Whilst on the topic. Buzzards are also considered song birds in some parts of the world. Can't remember where it is, but i read it somewhere.