Common Buzzard

Buteo buteo

Description:

The Common Buzzard measures between 40 and 58 cm in length with a 109–136 cm wingspan and a body mass of 427–1,364 g, making it a medium-sized raptor.

Habitat:

The Common Buzzard breeds in woodlands, usually on the fringes, but favours hunting over open land. It eats mainly small mammals, and will come to carrion. A great opportunist, it adapts well to a varied diet of pheasant, rabbit, other small mammals to medium mammals, snakes and lizards, and can often be seen walking over recently ploughed fields looking for worms and insects. The birds have incredible strength and are therefore able to pick up food of all weights.

Notes:

I was very lucky to see the two of them fight in mid air. Not once, but over and over again. They used the thermaal winds 'brotherly'. But once they reached the highest point they got back to their tumbling fight.

Species ID Suggestions

27 Comments (1–25)

sttweets 11 years ago

@Xinxin, Blurb creates a physical book isn't it? I was thinking more of an animation, more as a video or animated gif. Still have to find some time for it...

Xinxin 11 years ago

http://www.blurb.com/landing_pages/books...

Xinxin 11 years ago

thanks! i am thinking of making one as well for flower opening.. and for your buzzard actually this is quite nice already - a great calendar series (12!), but if you make something else that would be amazing!

sttweets 11 years ago

Xinxin, a smooth animation takes 20 to 30 images per second. Although I have probably up to 30 images I'm afraid the won't add to a smooth clip since there not taken in the same sequence. I will however try to create something.

Xinxin 11 years ago

zulkifly: i am wondering if one hasn't taken enough pictures to make the
"action" seem natural, is there a way to bridge the gap? How many pictures minimal is required to make such an animation? Thnx!!

ChristyHolland 11 years ago

Fascinating series of pics! I was wondering if they might have been a courting pair? This was definitely the time of year for mating rituals, and some of the raptors here in the states do "dances" in the sky...I saw 2 golden eagles flying together, diving and climbing, reaching for eachother with their talons. Our eagles are known to fly high, lock talons and fall together until close to the ground, then part and soar back up. But I know they will fight for territory also...I'm a volunteer at a raptor rehab center, and we once took in 2 bald eagles that had fallen locked together...they were still locked together when we received them and it took a while for them to relax enough to release their talons. Anyway, sorry for the long story! (my "dancing eagles": http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/100... )

Zulkifly Amir 11 years ago

i dont have my own flip book video/ blog etc, but i found this on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoFUtoyr7...

its pretty much the same, if its well printed, i'll be nice one.

sttweets 11 years ago

@zulkifly Would you have an URL to an example?

Zulkifly Amir 11 years ago

hi guys. 've read the idea of making flipbook eagle animation. its an interesting idea.

i'm an animator, and this is my daily thingy. we use some great software to do animation production series.

Those pics is a good key poses. To make an animation, we need to have drawings in between those key poses (in the picture). With a nice timing, we can make a nice flipbook.

feel free to ask more in this discussion can go furher =D

Xinxin 11 years ago

i have never made one, but i saw an interesting eagle flipbook before, not sure about software, i would just eye-ball the sequence and print out on paper to assemble a booklet? the sequence can be changed once they are printed out.. but im also searching on the net to see other ways of doing it!