Central Park Buzzards

No, not the Central Park in NYC, the Central Park in Plymouth!

I studied there and in the park was a family of buzzards!  I got so much enjoyment at heading to the park to find them and watching them, and of course waiting for the fledglings to appear!  They were often heard long before they were seen - and the crows often gave away where they were! 

One time I went into the park, and the crows were going crazy and I knew they were mobbing one of the buzzards and sure enough I soon located them and stood watching as the crows dive bombed one of the buzzards, and drove the buzzard right down towards me so it went right over my head with two crows close behind!

The best moment I ever shared with them though is when I returned after the summer - it was my first day back and I headed straight to the park to see if I could find them - and hopefully their youngster.  Sure enough, as I went into the park I heard this atrocious noise - yup, it was a juvenile buzzard sat at the very top of a large conifer yelling and yelling and yelling...but there was no sign of the parents.  I figured they might not be around, and at that point my phone rang and answered it, chatting away underneath a tree when suddenly the female buzzard came down from one of the branches behind me and swooped right over my head!  I was amazed that she was so close but had been completely hidden in the branches!  Afterwards I looked into the tree, and eventually I spotted the male there as well sitting silently on a branch, though once he realised he was spotted he took off and all three headed away.

That youngster stayed with the parents for a long time, one day in November I went to the park and the parents appeared to be driving the youngster away, but apparently it didn't work because the youngster was still there in the new year!  Though once the nesting season came back round again there were only two buzzards in the park. 

Though I saw them carrying nesting materials on several occassions, I never managed to figure out where their nest was, despite living in a park in the middle of a city they still ensured their nest was hidden away.  They were an amazing family to watch, on one early morning I saw one of them (I think the male) patrolling the streets - probably for rats - before anyone was awake!  This huge bird was gliding so silently along the narrow alleyways between the houses, I was astounded!  They also patrolled the railway line too, though I never ever saw them catch anything and once people started to emerge from their building they would be back in the park - no doubt taking advantage of the rabbits up there!

I hope they are still well, though I did hear there were plans to develop part of the park and I can only hope that a stop was brought to those plans not only for the buzzards but all the other wildlife that lived in the park - rabbits and hedgehogs, jays, bullfinches, blackbirds, thrushes...there was so much wildlife that could be found in this urban park!