Monday, 8 February 2016

Rough-legged Buzzard in Norfolk




My friend, Chris Orders and I spent the day in North Norfolk yesterday, just generally 'birding'. More of this trip will follow, but I think that we will both agree that the bird of the trip was this juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard and that is primarily because of the way that we saw it.

We had viewed the area south of Choseley Drying Barns where two juvenile Rough-legged's have been seen for most of the winter, but we were unlucky in that we didn't see either. So, having thought that we had 'dipped' on these birds we continued on our way to Titchwell and then headed for home via Wolferton to see if we could get our eyes on the Golden Pheasant. Upon leaving Hunstanton, the traffic was at a standstill, so we turned around and made our way back to Choseley to go the country way home. Just before entering the village of Bircham this large raptor was seen by both of us being mobbed by a Crow, we both thought 'Buzzard', but when the bird banked we both saw the white tail, immediately changing our cries to ' Rough-legged'! Neither of us were 100%, however, so I managed to get a few ropey shots as the bird flew in front of the car and away. Arriving home I sent off a couple of emails to confirm I.D. and both Josh Jones and Mike Weedon positively identified the bird as a juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard. Nice.

Thanks to Mike for editing my less than impressive photos!

8 comments:

  1. Beautiful images of the R l Buzzard. I nearly got one this afternoon, but, it flew away, never mind.

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    1. Thanks Bob! If you had, I am sure that your images would have been far superior!
      J

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  2. The underwing of these birds is very attractive

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    1. Most definitely Simon! A key identification point (so I am told!).
      J

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  3. Nice detective work John. I can tell that you are especially pleased with this 'tick'!
    CLICK HERE for Bazza’s fabulous Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

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    1. Thanks Bazza! It's always nice when you see a bird when you weren't expecting it!
      J

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