What bird is this?

[Killer2005]

My OH just spotted this perched on a wall on her drive home. From a very quick search it could be a buzzard?

[zygalski]

Yep - Buzzard.

[Turn7]

^^^what he said....

[johnnywgk]

How lucky to get so close

[johnnywgk]

Probably a young bird hatched last summer. When they get older they get more distant to humans annoying them

[Prof Prolapse]

We get quite a few of these in Scotland. I often see them on the top of streetlamps in the early hours warming themselves. Great looking animals. Agree it's, impressive you got so close!

Easily confused with the much rarer Eagles we get further North as well. I've nearly come off my motorbike on two occasions in the highlands trying to work out if I'd see a Golden eagle or "just a Buzzard".

[robbocop33]

Yep,lots in Scotland,seen three today when out walking my dog,never fail to impress me watching them soaring round in circles.You can get fairly close to them surprisingly.

[Boosted LS1]

^ you need to be very tall.

[Prof Prolapse]

Boom boom!

[PRTVR]

On my last two trips to York I have seen a similar bird sat at the side of the road, this was on the a19 between Thirsk and York, it look huge compared to what you normally see.

[Prof Prolapse]

IIRC, they're about a metre wingspan. Pretty big. Not that you're likely to confuse it unless it's dark, but Ravens get to about 1.5m, sadly on the decline however.

Eagles are crazy big though. If you're lucky enough to see one over the roads in the Cairngorms it's like a sodding hang glider just went over you.

Like most big dog walkers I develop a casual interest in these things. It passes the time between coaxing the dog to st in the bushes.

[Boosted LS1]

A few years ago I was lucky enough to see a few buzzards thermalling and every now and again another would join the group. Eventually there were 7 in total. It was nice to watch them, a real treat.

[Willy Nilly]

There's loads of buzzards around here. When I'm working mowing grass on the marshes they will spend a lot of time on the freshly cut ground looking for food. The crows do this also and have no time whatsoever for buzzards and appear to take great pleasure in mobbing them and generally getting them to bugger off. I like 'em.