Just spent an entertaining few minutes watching a Red Kite swooping down, ever lower towards our chicken carcass sat on the bird table. Then one of our cats decided to venture out and have a taste of the chicken. Hilarity ensued as our cat very nearly **** itself as a 5' wing span Kite appeared out of the sky, momentarily shrouding most of the daylight and swooped down, talons out-stretched for it's share of the spoils. The cat did an hilarious jump back and legged it as quick as a rat up a drainpipe back through the cat flap. Very funny. Wish I'd recorded it!
Used to play golf at Falconwood Golf Course in Surrey and remember regularly seeing the falcons hovering static about 100 feet up and then swoop down to pluck a rabbit out of the rough. Birds of prey are truly an awesome sight to behold...
Do you know what birds they were sooper? Buzzards catch rabbits and can hover, but they're not a falcon. Sorry.................birds of prey are sort of my thing.
I assumed they were falcons due to the club name, but they may well have been buzzards. I remember seeing a display of Peregrine Falcons at at castle we visited a few years back and they seemed to be a similar size to the birds I saw at Falconwood...
Falcons like the Peregrine tend to take other birds in flight. I reckon if rabbits were the victims they were almost certainly Buzzards. They have a wing span of around 4' or so and have chunky wings a bit like a small Eagle with "finger-tips" at the end. Falcons have pointed wings and the Peregrine has a wing span of around 3' or so and are a fair bit smaller than a Buzzard. If the birds you saw were hovering, as if they were on a piece of string and then diving down they would have been Kestrels, but they are too small to get a rabbit and will go after voles, mice and occasionally rats. They could look a bit like the Peregines that you saw in the display, having the same falcon wings, only a bit smaller with a wing span of just under 3'. Sorry...I'll shut up now!
There is a place near us called Eagle Heights which is a bird of prey centre. Mrs Coaster and I took the kids there a few years ago. The seating area is in a natural amphitheatre comprising a number of semi circular rows of seats, a grass bank and surrounded by a fence. Once the seats are full people generally sit at the back up against the fence. The last bird in the display is a vulture who clearly knows his own way down to the arena. The thump as he lands on the fence around the seating area is incredible, the look on the faces of the people leaning against that section of fence and looking up at a vulture looking down on them is priceless. The announcer saying “keep moving, he’ll know you’re not dead” perfectly judged to relieve their panic. Col, are Red Kites common in Oxfordshire? I don’t think we get anything interesting down here in the Surrey Hills.
Very interesting Col, I never really thought too much about it and at about 100 feet up and maybe 200 yards away you don't see them too clearly. I'd guess you're right though as when we saw the Peregrine's display they circled out of sight and then went into a dive which they reach speeds of nearly 200 mph, really a fantastic sight...
They re-introduced them between 1989 and 1994 mate. They were hunted through ignorance until they were virtually extinct, except for a few breeding pairs in Wales. Then some land owners in Wales protected them and let them prosper. In England, they were hunted to extinction as game keepers mistakenly believed that they posed a threat to the game birds. In fact, although Red Kites are a very big bird (4.5' - 5.5' wing span) they have very weak talons and a quite small body meaning that they can't lift anything heavier than a small mammal or bird and they rely on bigger more powerful birds to rip open dead animals (carrion) before they can feed on them. Anyway, Red Kites were released into the Chilterns, near High Wycombe and this has been one of the most successful acts of conservation ever. Around 90 fledgling birds were released and now there are estimated to be at least 1000 pairs!! You can't fail to see loads of them as you drive along the M40 at High Wycombe! They have spread out in all area, but they tend to stay around the Chilterns as people feed them and they will stay where the easy food source is. I know I shouldn't tempt them into the garden, but I can't resist. In the Surrey Hills you'll get all manor of Hawks and Falcons mate, definitely Sparrow Hawks, Buzzards, Peregrines and Kestrels to name but 4. You just need to look.
Amazing sight isn't it? Yeah, Peregrines are the fastest bird of prey in the world when in a dive and they go after other birds usually. You're right, it can be difficult to identify them when they're a silhouette in the sky. A general rule of thumb is that if the wings are pointed they are a Falcon and if the wings are chunkier with "finger-tips" they are Hawks.
Great stuff Col, they are amazing birds by the sound of it. Round where I live I see a few high flyers but as you say it's tricky to identify them for sure. I've heard young ones calling in the woods near me right through summer but I've never gotten a glimpse of them as they go quiet whenever anyone's about. I've had a pine marten coming to my bird table for a couple of years now, always about the same time, 6 or so in the evening. They're quite curious, and will tolerate us being there once there are no sudden movements. I've gotten some good footage of their antics, very impressive animal. There are some red squirrels about too, but my favourite from an entertainment point of view are stoats. They are so small, and move so quickly and erratically, you never know what they're going to do next. Saw one chase a squirrel through a tree once, the speed was unbelievable although he didn't manage to catch him, the squirrel was four or five times bigger!
Goshawks catch squirrels mate. Amazing to see Pine Martens, as I believe they are quite elusive but very inquisitive. Beautiful animals and very good hunters. If the high flyers you see are circling around on the thermals then they're probably Buzzards or Sparrowhawks, especially in the late evening in the summer. Goshawks can be seen doing the same over woods in the Spring.
Great observation Col Nice read I saw a Griffin Vulture once on the French / Italian border couldn't believe birds got that big
We live not far from Col, we have loads of red kites. In flight they make a sort of pathetic meew-ing call especially when they get "mobbed" by crows. They circle our garden (which is full of ducks and chickens)....looking for the ill or dead ones (it is worth a look once a day just in case I think they are thinking)...I believe red kites nearly only take carrion. My husband can call them down. He "mews" at them and they will come down and swoop low looking for the mate who is calling them. Beautiful creatures close too...but often really battered by crows...crows will drve them off from an area in a sort of organised gang attack..the red kites never fight back
That's a great spot Dave. I don't know a lot about birds of prey that aren't from Britain, but I think Griffin Vultures are usually seen around Portugal and Spain. They can occur in the South of France too. Massive bird.....8' wing span. You should be able to see lots of Red and Black Kites in France and Spain too. Out of interest, how did you know what the Vulture was?
The Red Kite does generally eat carrion, but they are known to take small mammals and birds. Ducklings on a pond can be targeted too. They have very week talons, so they can't lift anything of any weight at all and they struggle to open prey up too. The crows mob them because the Kites will swoop into the nests at the top of trees and take the Crows' young. I say crows, but they are in fact Rooks (of the crow family). The Kites don't usually fight back, but there have been instances of a Kite taking out a Rook in a surprise dash. Did you know that they are one of the only species of bird of prey that can pass food to one another in flight? Watch them next month when the weather warms up and watch them roll around each other in mid air, passing food between their talons. Amazing sight.
The office block I work in is reputed to have falcons living on it, or very nearby. The description of the falcons above doesn't sound like what we have though, more like Col's description of kestrels - Are they apt to live in a city or are they more a country bird? In the time i've been there, aI have seen these birds just flach past the window - going like a bat out of h*ll and I was really glad I wasn't one of the pigeons below
Sounds like Peregrines to me mate. They are known to nest on ledges of high-rise buildings and they certainly hunt down pigeons! Definitely won't be kestrels.
Col my eldest daughter worked as an apprentice at St Tiggywinkles for a year. I had one glorious visit after hours with her. Cuddled a badger and then watched as she fed a red kite who had lost the top of his beak and broken his wing in a car accident. Two of the most memorable moments in my life
