Common Buzzard and crow

[maxtich]

Went out crow shooting early Tuesday,took my trusty Arnie hmr and .22 Daystate Air Ranger 40 fte f.a.c, set the crow decoys out about 40/50 yards,within an hour had 7 crows to the hmr.Waited an hour or so and nothing,but glassed the field adjacent to my surprise had quite a few landing.
Every now and then a few would hover over a small tree and start the usual caw caw caw, i recognised this and knew there had to be a predator of some sort nearby.another scan and saw a Buzzard just sitting there and preening her self.that gave me the idea to move spots.
Soon I was there i also have a stuffed Buzzard which I use for Corvid control,i put the Buzzard in the ground with a dead crow with the wings broken near it, and 2 decoys on the fence post about 10 feet away.
After about 20 mins the crows started to show interest and come down and harass the buzzard.i shot another 12 mostly when the landed on the fence and cursing at the Buzzard on the floor.
The best bit was by now the Real buzzard had also landed and noticed the one on the floor and just sat up in the tree about 70 meters away and watching the last crow that sat on the fence got hit with the Air rifle give out a squack when hit and slowly fly away very low and with eratic wing beats and struggling,this must have been the cue for the Buzzard and it launched its attack it chased after it and grabbed it mid air then pinned it to the ground, however seemed to be struggling to despatch it, within a minute 2 other crows also landed near them and tried to help their mate but too late the buzzard had got its lunch.
I must say neither the farmer or I have ever seen the Buzzard attack any thing living before.
Tich

Edited September 5, 2013 by maxtich

[r1steele]

 

Went out crow shooting early Tuesday,took my trusty Arnie hmr and .22 Daystate Air Ranger 40 fte f.a.c, set the crow decoys out about 40/50 yards,within an hour had 7 crows to the hmr.Waited an hour or so and nothing,but glassed the field adjacent to my surprise had quite a few landing.

Every now and then a few would hover over a small tree and start the usual caw caw caw, i recognised this and knew there had to be a predator of some sort nearby.another scan and saw a Buzzard just sitting there and preening her self.that gave me the idea to move spots.

Soon I was there i also have a stuffed Buzzard which I use for Corvid control,i put the Buzzard in the ground with a dead crow with the wings broken near it, and 2 decoys on the fence post about 10 feet away.

After about 20 mins the crows started to show interest and come down and harass the buzzard.i shot another 12 mostly when the landed on the fence and cursing at the Buzzard on the floor.

The best bit was by now the Real buzzard had also landed and noticed the one on the floor and just sat up in the tree about 70 meters away and watching the last crow that sat on the fence got hit with the Air rifle give out a squack when hit and slowly fly away very low and with eratic wing beats and struggling,this must have been the cue for the Buzzard and it launched its attack it chased after it and grabbed it mid air then pinned it to the ground, however seemed to be struggling to despatch it, within a minute 2 other crows also landed near them and tried to help their mate but too late the buzzard had got its lunch.

I must say neither the farmer or I have ever seen the Buzzard attack any thing living before.

Tich

Your lucky, nothing worse than having buzzards coming down a feed ride and taking pheasant poults.