Common buzzard facts for kids

The common buzzard (Buteo buteo) is a very common bird of prey. It lives in many parts of the Old World, including most of Europe and Asia. These birds are usually between 51 and 57 centimeters long. Their wings can spread out to be 110–150 centimeters wide. Buzzards can be many colors, from almost white to black, but they are usually brown.

Where Buzzards Live and What They Eat

Common buzzards like to breed in woodlands. They hunt for food over open areas. Their main diet includes small animals like insects, rodents, and small birds. They also eat eggs. Sometimes, they can even catch prey heavier than themselves, such as adult grouse or rabbits. You might see them walking in recently ploughed fields. They do this to look for worms and insects.

A common buzzard (Buteo buteo).

Buzzard Behavior

Buzzards usually do not fly in large flocks. However, you might see several together when they are migrating. They also gather in places where there is a lot of good food. Common buzzards are known to mate for life. This means a pair stays together forever.

A typical brown buzzard in the Netherlands.

Types of Common Buzzards

Scientists have described many different types of common buzzards. There might be as few as seven or as many as eleven valid types, called subspecies.

Images for kids

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  Buteo buteo rothschildi – MHNT

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  The steppe race of the common buzzard (B. b. vulpinus) is usually distinguished from the nominate race (B. b. buteo) by being more rufous in hue (and more polymorphic)

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  Buteo buteo vulpinus – MHNT

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  A dark individual from Europe

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  A pale individual in Europe

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  Although they can look compact when perched, buzzards may appear large and long-winged in flight.

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  Juvenile forest buzzards of Africa are extremely easy to mistake for juvenile common buzzards of the steppe race that come to winter in Africa.

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  Common buzzard often inhabit the interface of woods and open areas.

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  Buzzards spend much of their day perched.

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  A steppe buzzard migrating through Israel, where buzzards have one of the largest raptor migrations in the world.

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  An illustration of a buzzard preying on a rodent.

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  A buzzard with a freshly caught rodent, likely a vole.

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  A crow mobs a buzzard. Buzzards will readily prey on crows, especially their fledglings.

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  A buzzard that caught a large Green whip snake but was flushed from its catch.

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  A juvenile white-tailed eagle being mobbed by a pair of common buzzards over the Isle of Canna, as the eagle will sometimes prey on the buzzard.

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  The remains of a common buzzard that was preyed on by a Eurasian eagle-owl.

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  A pair of common buzzards in Scotland.

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  A territorial dogfight between three buzzards in the Azores.

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  The much plainer egg of the common buzzard contrasted with that of the European honey buzzard.

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  Two young buzzard nestlings.

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  A common buzzard recent fledgling in a pine tree.

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  A wintering steppe buzzard in South Africa.

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  At Hamerton Zoo, England

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  In flight, Devon, England. There are around 40,000 breeding pairs in the United Kingdom

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  Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden

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  A young buzzard being ringed

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  Infertile egg of a Buzzard (Buteo buteo).