The buzzard is a medium sized raptor with a short, hooked bill suitable for eating meat. It is now seen widely throughout the country with populations spreading to western counties.
Often seen sitting on fences and telegraph posts or soaring high in the sky, where they display their fan-shaped tail and spread their outer wing feathers.
The Buzzard has a loud distinctive mewing call which it uses when flying and feeds on a wide variety of prey including small mammals, birds, rabbits, insects, earthworms and amphibians.
Trees and woodlands provide ideal nesting places especially where there is access to open land including farmland where they can find suitable prey. The species was absent in Ireland from the late nineteenth century until 1933, when a pair successfully bred in County Antrim. The species has spread slowly down from the north through the twentieth century.
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