Birds of Ireland: Buzzard

Buzzards are a scarce breeding species but are found here all year round 

A buzzard is much larger than a sparrowhawk. Both sexes appear similar — with yellow legs, and a yellow base to their dark hook-tipped beak

Buzzard | Clamhán | Buteo buteo

A buzzard is about 50-56 centimetres long and has a wingspan of 120-125 centimetres. 

Buzzards are found here all year round and are a scarce breeding species, though this is increasing. They are typically found on farmland and woodland. 

A buzzard is much larger than a sparrowhawk. Both sexes appear similar — with yellow legs, and a yellow base to their dark hook-tipped beak. 

Buzzards of all ages have broad, fairly blunt-ended wings. They have 'fingered' primaries (the stiff rigid feathers on the wing) and a relatively short, broad tail. Their plumage can vary a lot though adults are usually darker than juvenile and immature buzzards. 

Buzzard

In flight, when viewed from below, they all show dark wing coverts with an indistinct pale underwing covert bar. Their pale, barred dark-tipped primaries and secondaries are visible, as are their finely barred tail with black terminal bar on adults. They soar with few wing flaps. 

A buzzard's call is a drawn-out, high-pitched Keeere sound, often heard in flight, especially in spring and early summer. 

Tip of the Week

Eagles, buzzards, and kites will readily eat carrion (dead animals) and also small mammals — and even fish, in the case of the white-tailed sea eagle. All three were extinct in Ireland as breeding species by the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, largely due to human persecution. The buzzard recolonised naturally with a pair in Antrim in 1933 and has been spreading south and west since then. 

Eagles and kites, on the other hand have been the subject of reintroduction programmes in recent decades. The golden eagle is being reintroduced in Donegal, the white-tailed eagle in Kerry and the red kite in Wicklow, Dublin and Down. Golden eagles and red kites are once again breeding in the wild in Ireland and the first white-tailed eagle chicks born in Ireland in more than 100 years were hatched and fledged in Clare in 2013.

• Jim Wilson is a wildlife writer, broadcaster, tour leader, and former chairman of BirdWatch Ireland. He has been involved in the study and conservation of birds in Ireland for more than 45 years, contributing to several major surveys and international projects.
• Mark Carmody is an award-winning wildlife photographer, has a PhD in biochemistry and works as a European patent attorney.