Do buzzards pair off in January ? (1 Viewer)

[Neil Grubb]

I have been keeping an eye on a common buzzard which has been loafing around in the woods and on telegraph poles near my house for the past few weeks. Today a second bird was also present, and the two birds were hanging out together in the trees and making forays out over one of the fields. For the first time since the autumn I heard one of the birds calling, several times.

Is this the right time of year to see these birds start to pair up ? Am I going to hear the pitter patter of tiny buzzard feet in the spring ?

(Didn't get a pic of the two of them, but attached is one of my resident bird!)

Neil

 

[joannec]

Yesterday, I saw two buzzards circleing together here in Sussex. I haven't seen more than one at a time since last August. Maybe your suggestion that they are beginning to pair up is correct. I have heard "our" single resident calling over the past few weeks though.

 

[mrpjdavis]

They may not be pairing up exactly, but they will be (re)establishing territories by soaring displays. At times we've had up to eight soaring together over our house and then they peel off in ones or pairs and disappear in different directions. I guess they are checking out who's about and what territories are free. Look out for a male doing the "switchback" display when there is a pair around. Despite having plenty of buzzards here in the Cotswolds, and seeing them most days, I've only seen this display once.
Pete

 

[Sancho]

Look out for a male doing the "switchback" display when there is a pair around. Pete

Buzzards have only recently re-colonized Ireland (i.e. south of) and we're lucky enough to have a regular nesting pair in mixed farmland/woodland out back of the housing estate where we live south of Dublin. They've raised up to three young in a season in the last five years, and I'm trying to learn their habits. I've seen a pair doing some kind of a tussling and mewling display in early February - presumably this is prior to getting down to business? A few more regular sightings until early March, then I don't hear and hardly see them until the young are airborne, so I reckon they keep a very low profile while eggs or young are on the nest. Once the young are branching, though, they make a racket into the late autumn and can be seen soaring and mucking about generally on a daily basis. Is all this textbook stuff? What's the 'switchback' display you mentioned?

 

[nirofo]

Hi Neil

Buzzards generally start to display in late October - early November when they re-establish their pair bonds and or meet new mates if a previous mate has been lost, or the birds are a young pair. Territories will be re-established at this time also. From about the end of January given favourable weather the birds will be seen more often together, mating display usually starts at the end of Feb to beginning of March when nest building or repair will commence. The first eggs can be laid in late March, but more usually in the first to second week of April.

nirofo.