• Kate Bonczoszek
  • 7 Jan 2013 3:32 AM
  • Replies 20 replies
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Buzzard and heron......

  • Dave - CH
    Yup. You see some funny stuff sometimes.

    Once watched a Black Kite just arrived from Africa getting kicked about. By a Wagtail.

    I guess that's why we look at birds, eh?

    Dave
  • Shazha71
    Wow
  • Seaman

    In reply to Dave - CH:

    Not sure about same food Dave I've never seen our local Buzzards wading into a garden pond for goldfish. It would have been interesting to see a Heron chasing a Buzzard, Herons are surprisingly agile in the air

    Pete

    Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can

  • Dave - CH

    In reply to Seaman:

    Wendy S said:
    Not sure about same food Dave

    Thanks Pete. Constructive criticism is always welcome. And I'm glad someone (knowledgeable or otherwise; in your case, certainly knowledgeable) has come back to this.

    Agreed re ponds, but I've seen both species eating bugs, small mammals, worms, and amphibians (or so I recall).

    Wendy S said:
    Herons are surprisingly agile in the air

    Indeed they are. Nobody's fool a heron. One thinks "dinosaur" at one's peril, I imagine.

    Personally, I've some odd combat matches (a Collared Dove beating up a Magpie (Tuscany); Crag Martins taking tail feathers from Sparrowhawks (local); ...), but have never seen a Grey Heron and a Common Buzzard mixing it up. 

    But we're here to learn, eh?

    All the best -

    Dave 

  • Seaman
    Dave I think the best David and Goliath bird scene I saw was a Pied Wagtail having a go at a female Sparrowhawk, As far as diet goes it is quite normal locally to see Herons stood in the middle of a field eating bugs and any other creepy crawlies available. After watching Buzzards for over 40 years their diet is wide reaching but I have never seen fish on the menu but we are quite inland so area diets may vary

    Pete

    Birding is for everyone no matter how good or bad we are at it,enjoy it while you can

  • Dave - CH

    In reply to Seaman:

    Pete, funny, we were just talking about that with a neighbour last night. It takes a lot of courage to take on a dangerous bird when you're small and don't have much in armoury.

    Re Buzzards, never seen them with fish either, and I've lived close to lakes (and so, to rivers) for (... thinks...) 27 years now, and see many, many individuals on any given day.
    (But maybe they do it while I'm looking the other way.)

    Re Herons, Greys here they seem to spend more time in the fields than they do around actual water. But the farming in this part of the country isn't so intensive, and there seems to be rich pickings in the fields. Purples, the smaller egrets, and all the others prefer, of course, a bit more seclusion.

    A number of years ago, a friend of the family told me about a particular Grey that raided all the ponds in the back-to-back gardens in my late parents' neighbourhood (suburban Merseyside).
    I saw the bird one night while I was sitting on the back doorstep.
    A few days later, when the taxi arrived to take me to the airport, I must have mentioned birds, and the driver told me proudly that his was the only pond still stocked; the heron having taken every last fish, from two streets.

    Dave
  • Shazha71
    Really wish I'd taken a photo or video at least. It was the noise what made me look out. The heron once sat on top of someone's chimney looked strange seeing that through window.
  • Dave - CH

    In reply to Shazha71:

    Shazha71 said:
    looked strange

    You should visit a heronry Shazha. And take the experience to a new level of strange.

  • Shazha71
    We have a local herony here I see a lot of them but not on a chimney pot in middle of a housing estate usually lol
  • Dave - CH

    In reply to Shazha71:

    Shazha71 said:
    We have a local herony here I see a lot of them but not on a chimney pot in middle of a housing estate usually

    :-)

    Point taken.

    A few years ago I was intrigued to see ducks.

    On a balcony.

    In the middle of a large town.

    So, I see what you mean.