A rare sight this evening.

[JDog]

My wife and I took the dogs out after dinner and within 200m of the house we saw a sight to behold.

There was squawking from some Aesculus trees and then out came a Buzzard carrying a squirrel closely followed by two harassing Carrion crows. The threat from the crows was severe enough for the Buzzard to drop the dead squirrel 30m from us. All three birds flew off without the prize.

[Mice!]

I've seen buzzards crash into trees, guessed they were after squirrels but not seen one catch anything yet.

I always wonder why the buzzards don't just grab the crow or rook when their being mobbed?

[islandgun]

4 minutes ago, Mice! said:

I've seen buzzards crash into trees, guessed they were after squirrels but not seen one catch anything yet.

I always wonder why the buzzards don't just grab the crow or rook when their being mobbed?

Was watching a hoodie crow attack a cardboard takeaway box in town yesterday.. jeez there was some serious holes in that box, life threatening injuries for a buzzard. 

I opened the box for the hoodie crow, but there was nothing in it !

[henry d]

I remember seeing one take an oystercatcher by the river however it didn't have a good hold and during the struggle the oystercatcher was dropped into the river and as I watched it could not get airborne. I presume that they don't have the strike speed or claw strength of falcons so it may not kill instantly, any poults I have found look like they have struggled with one for a while too

[TIGHTCHOKE]

JD, I hope you've added it to the dead squirrel total!

[old man]

10 hours ago, Mice! said:

I've seen buzzards crash into trees, guessed they were after squirrels but not seen one catch anything yet.

I always wonder why the buzzards don't just grab the crow or rook when their being mobbed?

Could e to do with very pointy beaks?

[twenty]

10 hours ago, Mice! said:

I've seen buzzards crash into trees, guessed they were after squirrels but not seen one catch anything yet.

I always wonder why the buzzards don't just grab the crow or rook when their being mobbed?

The main reason birds of prey do not attack mobbing crows.

 Crows are very agile, and the energy spent on chasing them is not worth their while, Also any damage sustained from the crow, to the feathering, eyes or talons of the bird of prey would prove fatal................however, crows will steer clear of the nests of birds of prey, especially if it contains youngsters,....in this instance they will attack, and the corvids know it.

[Mice!]

I get that crows are tough but when you see buzzards being mobbed i always wonder why they don't just grab hold, I'd have thought if they can manage a squirrel then why not a crow?

Never held a buzzard so no idea how hard they grip.

[Westward]

I've seen Buzzards take ground prey but never a squirrel. We have a local female sparrowhawk and I've seen that take a squirrel out of a big pine next door but it had to work hard to get out of the tree as the squirrel didn't give up easily.

[ClemFandango]

1 hour ago, Westward said:

I've seen Buzzards take ground prey but never a squirrel. We have a local female sparrowhawk and I've seen that take a squirrel out of a big pine next door but it had to work hard to get out of the tree as the squirrel didn't give up easily.

The squirrel was likely already dead when the buzzard picked it up. 

[marsh man]

It's a case of being in the right place at the right time , although people who are interested in the countryside seem to have a extra eye in there head when these things happen .

This afternoon I was sitting in our sun lounge having a nice cup of tea while it was  raining hard outside , a Wood pigeon sat on our fence and leaned over to one side and out stretched his wing as if he was using the rain to clean his feathers , after a few minutes he done exactly the same with the other wing , I have never seen this before although I have seen them sitting in a puddle and giving themselves a shower by flicking the water over them .

Another thing I noticed with today's pigeon was he looked perfectly dry after sitting out in the heavy rain for a good 10 minutes or so ,and yet when you shoot one that fall on a wet crop or in the water and the feathers are saturated . 

[twenty]

2 minutes ago, marsh man said:

It's a case of being in the right place at the right time , although people who are interested in the countryside seem to have a extra eye in there head when these things happen .

This afternoon I was sitting in our sun lounge having a nice cup of tea while it was  raining hard outside , a Wood pigeon sat on our fence and leaned over to one side and out stretched his wing as if he was using the rain to clean his feathers , after a few minutes he done exactly the same with the other wing , I have never seen this before although I have seen them sitting in a puddle and giving themselves a shower by flicking the water over them .

Another thing I noticed with today's pigeon was he looked perfectly dry after sitting out in the heavy rain for a good 10 minutes or so ,and yet when you shoot one that fall on a wet crop or in the water and the feathers are saturated . 

Yeah I have watched them doing that, also leaning on their sides with a wing fully stretched, getting the rain into their "armpits".

They are also one of only a few birds which can drink with their heads down and swallow uphill,.........if you watch other birds they take a sip, lift their head vertically, and then swallow.

Had two young woodpigeon  in the garden this afternoon, no neckring and downy feathers round the bill.

[islandgun]

6 minutes ago, marsh man said:

It's a case of being in the right place at the right time , although people who are interested in the countryside seem to have a extra eye in there head when these things happen .

This afternoon I was sitting in our sun lounge having a nice cup of tea while it was  raining hard outside , a Wood pigeon sat on our fence and leaned over to one side and out stretched his wing as if he was using the rain to clean his feathers , after a few minutes he done exactly the same with the other wing , I have never seen this before although I have seen them sitting in a puddle and giving themselves a shower by flicking the water over them .

Another thing I noticed with today's pigeon was he looked perfectly dry after sitting out in the heavy rain for a good 10 minutes or so ,and yet when you shoot one that fall on a wet crop or in the water and the feathers are saturated . 

The best bits often happen to those sat in a hide for long periods.. in recent years my best memory was a tawny owl hovering over my face in darkness at the end of a flight

[strimmer_13]

7 hours ago, Mice! said:

I get that crows are tough but when you see buzzards being mobbed i always wonder why they don't just grab hold, I'd have thought if they can manage a squirrel then why not a crow?

Never held a buzzard so no idea how hard they grip.

Pretty hard, took one out of a cage trap I baited for foxes years ago. Saw him in there, and the only thing I had back at the yard was my leather bike gloves. Anyway cut a long story short, his beak shredded my finger, his talons made short work of the rest of my gloves. They wernt cheap thin leather either. Straight through, but only lightly punctured my hand in a dozen places. Off he flew, with nice clean talons. 

Ungrateful ****** 

 

[Mice!]

7 minutes ago, strimmer_13 said:

Pretty hard, took one out of a cage trap I baited for foxes years ago. Saw him in there, and the only thing I had back at the yard was my leather bike gloves. Anyway cut a long story short, his beak shredded my finger, his talons made short work of the rest of my gloves. They wernt cheap thin leather either. Straight through, but only lightly punctured my hand in a dozen places. Off he flew, with nice clean talons. 

Ungrateful ****** 

 

shouldn't laugh 😣😣 

24 minutes ago, marsh man said:

It's a case of being in the right place at the right time , although people who are interested in the countryside seem to have a extra eye in there head when these things happen .

your right, its small fury things with me, rabbits and squirrels, it always amazes me how a little bit of movement in a tree or hedge line has my attention when I'm sure i wasn't looking for anything.

[marsh man]

42 minutes ago, twenty said:

Yeah I have watched them doing that, also leaning on their sides with a wing fully stretched, getting the rain into their "armpits".

They are also one of only a few birds which can drink with their heads down and swallow uphill,.........if you watch other birds they take a sip, lift their head vertically, and then swallow.

Had two young woodpigeon  in the garden this afternoon, no neckring and downy feathers round the bill.

That was exactly what it looked like , trying to get the water on the under side of it's wing , we also watched a parent feeding a young one the other week by putting the food down the youngster beak , the old has been back but we haven't seen the young one since it flew off .

 

42 minutes ago, islandgun said:

The best bits often happen to those sat in a hide for long periods.. in recent years my best memory was a tawny owl hovering over my face in darkness at the end of a flight

I have had them try and land on my head while waiting in a reed bed for duck when it was virtually dark , that would put the fear of christ up yer .

 

43 minutes ago, Mice! said:

shouldn't laugh 😣😣 

your right, its small fury things with me, rabbits and squirrels, it always amazes me how a little bit of movement in a tree or hedge line has my attention when I'm sure i wasn't looking for anything.

What amazes me is one of our local bird watchers also seem to be in the right place , or looking in the right place when there is a rarity about , a couple of times when I stopped to have a yarn and asked him if there was anything unusual about , he showed me a Caspian Tern sitting amongst some other seagulls , and then another day he showed me a Great Knot , once word got about with that one we had just about every bird watcher in the country came and had a look .