What Predator?

[anser2]

Bilfishing ,

there is nothing to be ashamed of in not always being able to recognise raptors. After 1000s of hours of observation I make mistakes on occasion. yes there are days when they are easy , but on other days when the weather effects the manner in which they fly they can be very difficult to ID. ( try splitting goshawk and honey buzzard gliding in a strong wind head on and you will see what I mean. The jizz of the honey buzzard will be nothing like the bird you see soaring on a calm day ).

 

Perhaps the best bird ID guide is by Collins ....Bird Guide by Killian Mullarney , Lars Svensson , Dan Zetterstrom and Peter Grant and to quote from the raptor ID passage

 

" This group are very difficult to master in the field " and " Do not hope for or pretend reliable identification of all birds of prey in the field---------EVER".

 

This is a group of the world bird watching experts admitting you cant always correctly identify raptors in the wild. So what chance do us mere ,mortals have of being right every time.

 

I did not suggest that all country people did not know the difference between various raptors in the field just some keepers I know would freely admit that they would not be sure about splitting harriers\buzzards\ goshawks.

 

I was talking to an estate manager and his keeper the other day and he was telling me about his breeding honey buzzards in a wood on my patch. I knew the birds well and had watched them on many occasions over the past couple of years. They were common buzzards , not honey buzzards ( which are not even in the same family as common buzzards ). But local folk law said there were honey buzzards in the area and they never bothered to take a close look at the birds. Yes there were honey buzzards that occasionally visited the wood , but their nest was 8 miles away .

[tulkyuk]

The jizz of the honey buzzard will be nothing like the bird you see soaring on a calm day .

 

 

now we see why you like em so much

[tealer]

To suggest that raptors or owls kill indiscriminately shows a breathtaking lack of knowledge of the subject.

They do kill gamebirds but not dozens at a time, that's just plain silly.

 

They take what they want to eat and go with it. They might come back later for another one, but they wouldn't leave piles of dead birds around

I feel the lack of knowledge is yours, most keepers are well aware of the capabilities of Tawnys, the signs are decapitation or puncture wounds to the head, I have seen several killed in a night possibly by more than one Owl and none of them eaten, maybe they mistake the moveing heads for smaller birds, Why i'm not sure but they often take smaller birds this way at roost. The Fox However is the more common culprit and always leaves obvious tell tale half burried signs and aromers behind. Problem solved anyway, thats the main thing.