On this page

The books are listed in order of publication date with the most recent at the top.

The Raptor Page

Buzzard
(Common Buzzard)
Buteo buteo
Family: Accipitridae

Honey Buzzard
(European Honey Buzzard)
Pernis apivorus
Family: Accipitridae

Rough-legged Buzzard
Buteo lagopus
Family: Accipitridae

The Life of Buzzards

Peter Dare

2015

"The accounts describe the life history and ecology of Buzzards mainly inhabiting the British uplands where historically they have always been most numerous. For the first time, population activities are followed through successive seasonal stages of their life cycle. These include the vital and inter-related aspects of Buzzard territories and social behaviour, diets and hunting methods, food requirements, prey abundance and breeding success, survival and life spans and how Buzzard numbers and distribution have changed, particularly in relation to the influence of Man. The book also demonstrates how well Buzzards have adapted to living in our modern and rapidly-changing landscapes, constantly adapting their habits in response to prey resources and environmental conditions.In the book's first section, The Year of the Buzzard, the sequential changes in the composition and behaviour of a Buzzard community, their seasonal patterns of food habits and hunting methods, their breeding season from courtship until fledging of broods and their subsequent dispersal are outlined. The second section, Special Topics, provides greater detail of six key aspects of their ecology which are explored within the following chapter topics: Territory; Energy and Food Needs; Predation; Food Supply and Breeding Success; Demography and Population Dynamics; and Changes in Buzzard Abundance."

The Buzzard

Colin R. Tubbs

1974

"This book is an account of the ecology and history of the buzzard in Britain, the main purpose of which is to record the size and reproductive success of the population, and try to identify the factors controlling it. Interest is focused closely on the territorial behaviour of the birds as possible mechanism of population control. The birds' behaviour leaves interesting anomalies still to be explained. The book naturally draws extensively on the author's experiences in the New Forest, where he has studied buzzards since 1962, but it seeks, too, to synthesise the available information about buzzard populations elsewhere in Britain and also, where relevant, to draw comparisons with studies of the buzzard on continental Europe. An analysis of the British trust for ornithology nest records cards for the buzzard is used to compare the success of populations in different parts of Britain."

The Buzzard

Frank Wenzel

1959

Grebes