Occasionally, these owls may prey on threatened species. Following the devastation to its populations from DDT, the reintroduction of the peregrine falcon to the Mississippi and Hudson Rivers was hampered by great horned owls killing both young and adult peregrines at night. Similarly, as mainly recorded in New England, attempts to reintroduce ospreys, after they were also hit hard by DDT, were affected by heavy owl predation on nestlings, and the owls were also recorded to take a large toll locally on the threatened colonies of roseate terns. Where clear-cutting occurs in old-growth areas of the Pacific Northwest, spotted owls have been badly affected by considerable great horned owl predation. While at least the ospreys and peregrines have rebounded admirably nonetheless, bird and mammal species that are much rarer overall sometimes fall prey to great horned owls, many in which even sporadic losses can be devastating. Among the species considered threatened, endangered or critically endangered by the IUCN which are also known to be killed by great horned owls are Townsend's ground squirrels (Urocitellus townsendii), Pacific pocket mice (Perognathus pacificus), giant kangaroo rats, Stephens' kangaroo rat (Dipodomys stephensi), black-footed ferrets, greater and lesser prairie chickens, marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus), ivory-billed woodpeckers, Florida scrub jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens), pinyon jays, Kirtland's warblers (Setophaga kirtlandii) and rusty blackbirds (Euphagus carolinus). The American Bird Conservancy's "green list" includes birds with considerable population declines (many classed as near threatened by the IUCN) or other immediate threats and/or restricted populations. Altogether, great horned owls hunt 50 different species from that list.


Many warrior-based tribes of Native Americans admired the great horned owl for their "strength, courage and beauty". The Pima of the southwest believed that owls were reincarnations of slain warriors who fly about by night. The Arikara of the Great Plains had mystic owl societies in which initiates were made to adorn facial mask made of the wing and tail feathers of great horned owls. Some Indian nations regarded the great horned owl as a friendly spirit who could aid in matters of love, such as the Passamaquoddy of Maine who felt the call of this species was a magical love flute designed to ignite human passions. The Hopi of the southwest also associated this owl with fertility, albeit of a different kind: they believed the calling of the owls into summer predicted hot weather, which produced good peach crops. During the winter solstice, the Hopi performed a ceremony with great horned owl feathers in hopes of summoning the heat of summer. Tribes in New Mexico were known to use owl wing feathers to produce arrows which could strike their enemies with a minimum of sound. The Zuni held owl feathers in their mouths hoping to gain some of the silence that owls use in ambushes while striking their own enemies from other tribes. The Iroquois felt the origin of the great horned owl was due to an unformed owl annoying Raweno, the almighty creator, while Raweno created the rabbit, causing Raweno to make the owl "covered with mud" (dark camouflage) and doomed to ceaselessly call "whoo whoo", which he used while harassing Raweno, by night because Raweno was active during the day.


The great horned owl is the provincial bird of Alberta.


The bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) is a small sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Anas albeola.
The genus name is derived from ancient Greek boukephalos, "bullheaded", from bous, "bull", and kephale, "head", a reference to the oddly bulbous head shape of the species. The species name albeola is from Latin albus, "white". The English name is a combination of buffalo and head, again referring to the head shape. This is most noticeable when the male puffs out the feathers on the head, thus greatly increasing the apparent size of the head.


The bufflehead ranges from 32–40 cm (13–16 in) long and weighs 270–550 g (9.5–19.4 oz), with the drakes larger than the females. Averaging 35.5 cm (14.0 in) and 370 g (13 oz), it rivals the green-winged teal as the smallest American duck. The bufflehead has a wingspan of 21.6 in (55 cm).
Adult males are striking black and white, with iridescent green and purple heads and a large white patch behind the eye. Females are grey-toned with a smaller white patch behind the eye and a light underside.


They are migratory and most of them winter in protected coastal waters, or open inland waters, on the east and west coasts of North America and the southern United States. The bufflehead is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe. Their breeding habitat is wooded lakes and ponds in Alaska and Canada, almost entirely included in the boreal forest or taiga habitat. From 1966 - 2015, the bufflehead experienced a >1.5% yearly population increase throughout its breeding range.


Buffleheads have evolved their small size to fit the nesting cavity of their "metabiotic" host, a woodpecker, the northern flicker. Due to their small size, they are highly active, undertaking dives almost continuously while sustained by their high metabolism. They do not tend to collect in large flocks; groups are usually limited to small numbers. One duck serves as a sentry, watching for predators as the others in the group dive in search of food. Buffleheads are amongst the last waterfowl to leave their breeding grounds and one of the world's most punctual migrants, arriving on their wintering grounds within a narrow margin of time.


Buffleheads are monogamous, and the females may return to the same nest site, year after year. They nest in cavities in trees, primarily aspens or poplars, using mostly old flicker nests, close (usually < 25 m (82 ft)) to water. Nest competitors include mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides), tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), and European starling. There was one recorded instance of a female Barrow's goldeneye killing a bufflehead adult female and her brood. Smaller cavities are preferred because of less competition with the larger goldeneyes. Females may be killed on the nest by mammals, such as foxes (Vulpes and Urocyon sp.), weasels (Mustela and Neogale sp.) or mink (Neogale vison), and by goldeneyes over nest competition.
Average clutch size is nine (range six to 11), and eggs average 50.5 by 36.3 mm (1.99 by 1.43 in). Incubation averages 30 days, and nest success is high (79% in one study) compared to ground-nesting species like the teal. A day after the last duckling hatches, the brood leaps from the nest cavity. The young fledge at 50–55 days of age. Predators of adults include the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), and Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii).


These diving birds forage underwater. They prefer water depths of 1.2–4.5 m (3.9–14.8 ft). In freshwater habitats, they eat primarily insects, and in saltwater, they feed predominantly on crustaceans and mollusks. Aquatic plants and fish eggs can often become locally important food items, as well.


Because of their striking plumage, highly active nature, and proximity to humans on waterfront properties, buffleheads are one of the most popular birds amongst bird watchers. The bufflehead, also known as the spirit duck, was added to the coat of arms of the town of Sidney, British Columbia, in 1995. Buffleheads are hunted and are considered a gamebird. In contrast to many other seaducks that have declined in recent decades, bufflehead numbers have remained relatively constant. Habitat degradation is the major threat to this bird, since they depend on very limited coastal habitat on their wintering grounds, and very specific habitat in their boreal breeding grounds. Although buffleheads do use man-made nest boxes, they still need the forest habitat to thrive.


Buddleja cordata is a large deciduous dioecious shrub or tree < 20 m tall in the wild. The trunk, which can reach 45 cm in diameter, has a furrowed bark, brownish or blackish in colour. The ovate to narrowly elliptical leaves are opposite and paired, 4–23  cm long by 3–14 cm wide, on petioles 1–4 cm long. The terminal inflorescences are paniculate, 6–30 cm long with at least two orders of branches, the lowermost subtended by leaves, the uppermost by small bracts. The small fragrant flowers are grouped into shortly pedunculate cymules, the corollas white, cream, or yellow, with a flush of orange at the throat, 1.5–2.5 long. Ploidy: 2n = 76 (tetraploid).


The species is cold hardy in the UK. A large specimen grows in the Centenary Border of the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in Hampshire, another as part of the NCCPG national collection at Longstock Park Nursery, also in Hampshire.Hardiness: USDA zone 8.


The species (and the genus as a whole) contain secondary metabolites such as flavonoids and iridoid glycosides which have shown much promise in the treatment of cancers and a wide range of other disorders.


Buddleja davidii (spelling variant Buddleia davidii), also called summer lilac, butterfly-bush, or orange eye, is a species of flowering plant in the family Scrophulariaceae, native to Sichuan and Hubei provinces in central China, and also Japan. It is widely used as an ornamental plant, and many named varieties are in cultivation. The genus was named Buddleja after Reverend Adam Buddle, an English botanist. The species name davidii honors the French missionary and explorer in China, Father Armand David, who was the first European to report the shrub. It was found near Ichang by Dr Augustine Henry about 1887 and sent to St Petersburg.  Another botanist-missionary in China, Jean-André Soulié, sent seed to the French nursery Vilmorin, and B. davidii entered commerce in the 1890s.
B. davidii was accorded the RHS Award of Merit (AM) in 1898, and the Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 1941.


Buddleja davidii is a vigorous shrub with an arching habit, growing to 5 m (16 ft) in height. The pale brown bark becomes deeply fissured with age. The branches are quadrangular in section, the younger shoots covered in a dense indumentum. The opposite lanceolate leaves are 7–13 cm (3–5 inches) long, tomentose beneath when young. The honey-scented lilac to purple inflorescences are terminal panicles, < 20 cm (8 inches) long.  Flowers are perfect (having both male and female parts), hence are hermaphrodite rather than monoecious (separate male and female flowers on the same plant) as is often incorrectly stated. Ploidy 2n = 76 (tetraploid).


Buddleja davidii cultivars are much appreciated worldwide as ornamentals and for the value of their flowers as a nectar source for many species of butterfly. However, the plant does not provide food for butterfly larvae, and buddlejas might out-compete the host plants that caterpillars require.
The species and its cultivars are not able to survive the harsh winters of northern or montane climates, being killed by temperatures below about −15 to −20 °C (5 to −4 °F).
Younger wood is more floriferous, so even if frosts do not kill the previous year's growth, the shrub is usually hard-pruned in spring once frosts have finished, to encourage new growth. The removal of spent flower panicles may be undertaken to reduce the nuisance of self-seeding and encourage further flower production; this extends the flowering season which is otherwise limited to about six weeks, although the flowers of the second and third flushes are invariably smaller.
Hardiness: USDA zones 5–9.
There are approximately 180 davidii cultivars, as well as numerous hybrids with B. globosa and B. fallowiana grown in gardens. Many cultivars are of a dwarf habit, growing to no more than 1.5 m (5 feet).
A plant-evaluation manager at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois (USDA Hardiness zone 5b) rated nearly 50 Buddlejia varieties and cultivars during a six-year trial period, summarizing in 2015 the charactistics of each and the study's findings. University studies have suggested that nectaring butterflies have greater preferences for some Buddleja cultivators than for others, with Lo & Behold 'Blue Chip' and 'Pink Delight' heading a list of eleven.
Other notable cultivars and hybrids include 'Golden Glow' and 'Silver Frost'.


Buddleja davidii has been designated as an invasive species or a "noxious weed" in a number of countries in temperate regions, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. It is naturalized in Australia and in many cities of central and southern Europe, where it can spread on open lands and in gardens.
B. davidii was first documented as an invasive species in the United Kingdom during 1922. It is now often seen there along railway lines and on the sites of derelict factories and other buildings. The plant frequently grew on urban bomb sites during the aftermath of World War II, earning it the nickname of "the bomb site plant".
B. davidii is widely marketed throughout the United States, where it has reportedly become invasive in some, but not all, areas within which it has been planted. Although its flowers feed many native butterflies and other pollinators, plantings of the species are now controversial. To prevent seeding and to promote further flowering, its blossoms need to be removed ("deadheaded") as soon as they are spent.
A number of Buddleja cultivars have become available that have a variety of sizes and blossom colors and that are either sterile or produce less than 2% viable seed. The northwestern U.S. state of Oregon, which designated B. davidii as a "noxious weed" and initially prohibited entry, transport, purchase, sale or propagation of all of its varieties, amended its quarantine in 2009 to permit those cultivars when approved or when proven to be interspecific hybrids. The adjacent state of Washington has taken actions that are similar to those of Oregon to bring parity to nursery sales between the two states. Monarch Watch recommends planting only male-sterile "Flutterby" cultivars.


Lithospermum arvense (syn. Buglossoides arvensis), known as field gromwell, corn gromwell, bastard alkanet, stone seed and Ahiflower®, is a flowering plant of the family Boraginaceae. It is native to Europe and Asia, as far north as Korea, Japan and Russia, and as far south as Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.[i] It is known in other places as an introduced species, including much of North America and Australia.[ii],[iii] The European Union has granted the refined oil of the seed of Buglossoides arvensis novel food status and some farmers are growing it[iv]commercially in the United Kingdom as a plant-variety patented (PVP) and trademarked cultivar (Ahiflower). The seed oil contains high levels (63-72%) of omega-3 ALA (c18:3), omega-3 SDA (c18:4), and omega-6 GLA (c18:3)[v] and has GRAS (generally regarded as safe) review status from the US Food and Drug Administration, Canadian ingredient master file (IMF) registration and novel food status, and GMP+ Feed Support Product status in the EU for livestock and companion animals (including for defatted expeller press cake meal).

Refined Buglossoides oil has peer-reviewed published human clinical evidence from controlled dietary intervention trials showing up to 400% more efficient omega-3 EPA (c20:5) accrual in circulating cells vs flaxseed oil[vi] and has been shown to significantly upregulate the cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated macrophages by +40% vs. control[vii]. IL-10 is recognized as one of the immune modulatory signaling cytokines that moderates the inflammatory response after intensive exercise or immune challenge.

Seeds of Buglossoides have been reported in Ukrainian archeological sites dating back as far as 4000 BC where they were stored in clay pots, however the purpose and usage of the seeds has not been determined. In modern European arable agriculture, Buglossoides often appears as a weed species with poor competitive and non-invasive characteristics.


Burchardia umbellata, known as milkmaids, is a perennial herbaceous plant native to woodlands and heath of eastern and southern Australia. It is known in all states. It typically flowers from September until November, in dry sclerophyll forests.


The narrow leaves of Burchardia umbellata are up to 60 cm long by 1.5 to 4 mm wide. Clusters of white or pale pink flowers with reddish centers sit atop a thin stalk that is 50 to 60 cm high. Each flower measures about 2.5 cm wide. There is a cluster of up to ten carrot-shaped tubers at the base, each about 5 mm thick.


Aboriginals eat the potato-like tubers. The tubers can be eaten raw or cooked. They are white, fleshy, crisp, and starchy, with a nondescript flavor.


The genus Burchardia is named for German botanist Johann Heinrich Burckhardt. The Latin species name umbellata means "umbrella" or "parasol", referring to the shape of the umbels of flowers.


Burchardia umbellata is rarely available in nurseries, but it can be propagated by seed and kept in containers. It requires moist, well-drained soils and sun or light shade.


The double-striped thick-knee (Burhinus bistriatus) is a stone-curlew, a group of waders in the family Burhinidae. The vernacular name refers to the prominent joints in the long greenish-grey legs, and bistriatus to the two stripes of the head pattern.


The double-striped thick-knee was formally described in 1829 by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler from a specimen collected in Mexico. He coined the binomial name Charadrius bistriatus. The specific epithet biscutatus combines the Latin bi- meaning "two-" or "double-" with scutatus meaning "armed with a shield" (scutum was an oblong shield). The double-striped thick-knee is now placed in the genus Burhinus that was erected by the German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger in 1811.
Four subspecies are recognised:
B. b. bistriatus (Wagler, 1829) – south Mexico to northwest Costa Rica
B. b. vocifer (L'Herminier, 1837) – Venezuela, Guyana and north Brazil
B. b. pediacus Wetmore & Borrero, 1964 – north Colombia
B. b. dominicensis (Cory, 1883) – Hispaniola


The double-striped thick-knee is a medium-large wader with a strong black and yellow bill, large yellow eyes, which give it a reptilian appearance, and cryptic plumage. The adult is about 46 to 50 cm (18–20 in) long and weighs about 780 to 785 g (27.5–27.7 oz). It has finely streaked grey-brown upperparts, and a paler brown neck and breast merging into the white belly. The head has a strong white supercilium bordered above by a black stripe. Juveniles are similar to adults, but have slightly darker brown upperparts and a whitish nape. The double-striped thick-knee is striking in flight, with a white patch on the dark upperwing, and a white underwing with a black rear edge.
The four subspecies differ in size and plumage tone, but individual variation makes identification of races difficult.


It is a resident breeder in Central and South America from southern Mexico south to Colombia, Venezuela and northern Brazil. It also occurs on Hispaniola and some of the Venezuelan islands, and is a very rare vagrant to Trinidad, Curaçao and the USA. It prefers arid grassland, savanna, and other dry, open habitats.


This is a largely nocturnal and crepuscular species. It flies only reluctantly, relying on crouching and camouflage for concealment. The double-striped thick-knee eats large insects and other small vertebrate and invertebrate prey. It is sometimes semi-domesticated because of its useful function in controlling insects, and has benefited from the clearing of woodlands to create pasture. The song, given at night, is a loud kee-kee-kee.


The nest is a bare scrape into which two olive-brown eggs are laid and incubated by both adults for 25–27 days to hatching. The downy young are precocial and soon leave the nest.


The spotted thick-knee (Burhinus capensis), also known as the spotted dikkop or Cape thick-knee, is a wader in the family Burhinidae. It is native to tropical regions of central and southern Africa.


The spotted thick-knee, which can reach up to 45.5 cm (17.9 in) in height, has long legs and brown-and-white speckled plumage which provides camouflage, making it difficult to spot the bird in the grasslands and savannas where it roams. Its head is large and round with a prominent yellow eye and a short, stout beak. When in flight or standing in a characteristic position with its wings raised, it shows a striking contrasting pattern. Its legs are long and yellow and the tibiotarsal joint is expanded, giving it the name "thick-knee".


The spotted thick-knee is nocturnal and squats on the ground during the daytime, making it difficult to spot. It hunts exclusively on the ground, feeding on insects, small mammals and lizards.


It nests on the ground, lining a scrape with grasses, feathers, pebbles and twigs. The female typically lays two eggs, and males and females rear the offspring together, with both bringing food back to the nest. The birds will defend the nest and adopt a defensive pose with wings spread and tail cocked and will even peck an intruder. Sometimes they will fake injuries to lead predators away from the nest.


The spotted thick-knee is native to the grasslands and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa. Its range extends from Senegal, Mali and Mauritania in the west to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa in the east and south.


The spotted thick-knee has a very extensive range, and its population is believed to be stable. For these reasons, the IUCN has rated it as being of "Least Concern".


The bush stone-curlew or bush thick-knee (Burhinus grallarius, obsolete name Burhinus magnirostris) is a large, ground-dwelling bird endemic to Australia. Its favoured habitat is open plains and woodlands, where it stalks slowly at night in search of invertebrates such as insects. Its grey-brown coloration is distinguished by dark streaks, its eyes are large and legs are long. It is capable of flight, but relies on the camouflage of its plumage to evade detection during the day; the bush curlew adopts a rigid posture when it becomes aware of an observer. Both sexes care for two eggs laid on the bare ground, usually sited near bush in a shaded position or next to a fallen branch.


The bush stone-curlew was first described by English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name Charadius grallarius.
Latham published three names simultaneously; however, the seniority of C. grallarius follows the publication of the names in John Gould's Birds of Australia in 1845.
Until a revision determining the priority of names assigned to this species, ornithologists cited the description under the epithet B. magnirostris. Descriptions of subspecies were published by Gregory Mathews in 1912, B. m. rufescens and B. m. broomei describing specimens collected in western Australia and B. m. ramsayi collected in the east at Queensland. These descriptions are recognised as synonymous with B. grallarius.
A species of the widely distributed family Burhinidae, also represented in Australia by the beach stone-curlew Esacus magnirostris, it is terrestrial forager of semiarid inland environments related to the shorebirds and waders of the order Charadriiformes.
Common names for this species are southern, bush, and scrub stone-curlew, the bush thick-knee, and southern stone plover. A name used by the indigenous peoples of Western Australia, wee-lo, was reported by John Gilbert and published by Gould in 1845. Later authorities included this name as current at the Northwest Cape and Southwest Australia, the similar wee-loo at Pallinup River, and welojabbin, also in the southwest, and windoo at a district in the western interior.


A species of Burhinus, a genus of large-eyed and long-legged terrestrial foragers known as thick-knees, it is slender in form and a grey and brown colour with distinctive markings. The bird has conspicuous dark streaks over the buff and greyish white feathers of the upperparts and spotted markings on the wings. The plumage at lower side of the bird is also strongly streaked with dark brown over white and buff feathers.
The total length of the species, including a bill around 45 mm and tail 180 mm, is 550 mm; the wingspan approaches 1 m across.
Black flight feathers on the wing reveal a light buff patch when extended, and the plumage has a light area at the shoulder.
The head is distinguished by a band of dark feathers over the eye and down the neck, and a buff colour at the forehead and brow over the eye. The iris is bright yellow; bare skin near the eye is black. The long legs of the species are an olive-green colour, and the bill is darkish in tone.
The sexes are similar, with juveniles displaying a paler plumage that otherwise resembles the adults.
This stone-curlew's voice is loud and can be heard at a great distance. The call of "weeloo" has an eerie and plaintive tone and is a familiar sound of the night in the Australian bush.
The frequency of calls increases when weather conditions are changing, especially when rain is approaching an area.
Several individuals may join their voices in chorus, greatly intensifying the extraordinary quality of their nocturnal calling.
The coloration of the egg shell is generally a stone grey with brownish blotching, although this is variable and often matches the environment to provide camouflage. Size of the egg is also variable, on average it is 53 × 39 mm, yet differences in  nearby nests or between the two eggs of the same brood are recorded.
No other Australian bird resembles the bush curlew. Another species of the family, the beach stone-curlew also known as a wee-lo, is distinguished by its plumage and larger bill and is only found at the coast. Confusion with the nightjars is possible, but the species of Caprimulgus are smaller and fly in a different manner.


Like most stone-curlews, it is mainly nocturnal and specialises in hunting small grassland animals; frogs, spiders, insects, molluscs, crustaceans, snakes, lizards, and small mammals are all taken, mostly gleaned or probed from soft soil or rotting wood; also. a few seeds or tubers are consumed, particularly in drought years. Birds usually forage individually or in pairs over a large home range, particularly on moonlit nights.
During the day, bush stone-curlews tend to remain inactive, sheltering amongst tall grass or the shade of shrubs and trees, relying on their cryptic plumage to protect them from predators. When disturbed, they freeze motionless, often in odd-looking postures. For visual predators such as raptors and humans, this works well, but it serves little purpose with animals that hunt by scent such as foxes, dingoes, or goannas.
Approaching the camouflaged individual does not dissuade it from this behaviour, maintaining the rigid posture even if handled.
If moving from a disturbance, they crouch and walk stealthily into vegetation, only attempting to fly if vigorously pursued.
Despite their ungainly appearance and habit of freezing motionless, they are sure-footed, fast, and agile on the ground, and although they seldom fly during daylight hours, they are far from clumsy in the air; flight is rapid and direct on long, broad wings.
The bush stone-curlew is probably heard more than it is seen. Its call sounds like a wail or a scream in the night. When scared, it screeches – a sound similar to the screech of a possum.
A field report from Brookton, Western Australia, noted that their call was heard in response to the cry of possums shot by hunters. When threatened (presumably in the presence of a nest), they may raise their wings wide and high in an impressive threat posture and emit a loud, hoarse hissing noise.
The bush curlew is sometimes recorded in flocks, but when the breeding season occurs, the number of birds in a locality is the usually just a mating pair. Like other ground-nesting birds, the females only select a site to lay the eggs and provide no other adornment to the nest; care of the site is performed by both parents. The brooding parent discreetly moves from the site if disturbed in the first few days of incubation, but remains to defend an egg at a later stage of development. The parent adopts its frozen posture and lays over the eggs in an attempt to hide them.
An egg that has been discovered by an intruder may be moved a short distance away.


The bush stone-curlew has a broad habitat preference, but is rarely seen in rainforest, arid desert, or urban or agricultural regions. The species is found in open forest, eucalyptus woodland, rainforest edges, grassy plains, arid scrubland, and along inland watercourses. They are not a migratory species, although weather conditions may cause them to relocate to another site in a local area. It is a common species around the cities of Brisbane, Cairns, and Townsville of Australia's northeast, but is not found around urban areas in the south of its range. It can be found throughout Australia apart from the West Australian coast and Tasmania. It is still abundant in the tropical and subtropical north, but has become very rare in the less fertile south where it was once common.
Historical records of the species' occurrence in southwest Australia indicate it was common, sometimes abundant, but the population greatly declined in this region during the 20th century. The cause of its extirpation is largely attributed to the introduction of the red fox Vulpes vulpes. The threat from predation by cats is noted as sometimes absent where the fox had already established itself. Attempts to control another exotic pest, the European rabbit, were also a threatening factor to this species succumbing to control methods of water poisoning and inadvertent capture in rabbit traps.
Bush curlew's distribution range included most of the mainland of the Australian continent, although this has become reduced by around 90%, and is also found on offshore and nearby islands. A very small population is recorded breeding at a site in southern New Guinea.
The curlew was reported to sometimes find protection from foxes by residing near rural properties, receiving the consideration of farmers and defended by their dogs. Young birds have been known to become partially domesticated at rural properties.
Agricultural activity sometimes favoured the local populations; Frederick Whitlock noted in 1903 that the weelo gained access to open water and favoured the partial clearing of forest where remnant shrubland remained. However, the dramatic decline in former strongholds that were converted to European farming practices was recorded in the mid-20th century.


Bush stone-curlews remain reasonably common in the north of Australia, but have become rare in the less fertile south. Many experts believe that fox predation is a prime factor in their decline, although some areas remain where foxes are common, yet the bush stone-curlew population remains healthy, so the true causes remain uncertain.  Large-scale habitat destruction and fragmentation has undoubtedly been important, and may well be the major factor, although some evidence suggests that the species favours agricultural land  and some urban areas with patches of remnant native vegetation over intact areas of vegetation.
Starting in 2014, bush stone-curlews have been reintroduced to a protected area in Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary in Canberra using a combination of hard- and soft-release strategies.
The assessment noted in the IUCN Red List is not threatened, revising an earlier listing of near threatened with extinction. The population is declining and estimated at 10,000 to 15,000 individuals in 2016. Historical declines recorded during colonisation of Australia are thought to have abated in the 32 years (three generations) prior to the IUCN's 2016 assessment.
The bush stone-curlew is not listed as threatened on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. It is common in Queensland, and not considered to be regionally threatened there. In New South Wales, it is considered endangered under the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. It is listed as "vulnerable" in South Australia on the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972, and listed as "threatened" on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988. Under this act, an action statement for the recovery and future management of this species has been prepared. On the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria, this species is listed as endangered.


Bursaria spinosa is a small tree or shrub in the family Pittosporaceae. The species occurs mainly in the eastern and southern half of Australia and not in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Reaching 10 m (35 ft) high, it bears fragrant white flowers at any time of year but particularly in summer. A common understorey shrub of eucalyptus woodland, it colonises disturbed areas and fallow farmland. It is an important food plant for several species of butterflies and moths, particularly those of the genus Paralucia, and native bees.


Bursaria spinosa has a variable habit, and can grow anywhere from 1 to 12 m high. The dark grey bark is furrowed. The smooth branches are sometimes armed with thorns, and the leaves are arranged alternately along the stems or clustered around the nodes and have a pine-like fragrance when bruised. Linear to oval or wedge-shaped (ovate, obovate or cuneate), they are 2–4.3 cm long and 0.3–1.2 cm wide with a rounded apex.  The fragrant flowers can occur at any time of year, but mainly appear in the summer. They are arranged in leafy pyramid-shaped panicles.


First collected by Europeans in the vicinity of Port Jackson, Bursaria spinosa was first formally described by Antonio José Cavanilles in 1797 in his book, Icones et Descriptiones Plantarum. It is known by many common names, including Australian blackthorn, blackthorn, Christmas bush, mock orange, native blackthorn, native box, native olive, prickly box, prickly pine, spiny box, spiny bursaria, sweet bursaria, thorn box and whitethorn. Summer flowering has given rise to the name (Tasmanian) Christmas bush in Tasmania and South Australia (not to be confused with Prostanthera lasianthos). Indigenous names recorded include kurwan in Coranderrk, Victoria, and geapga from Lake Hindmarsh Station.
Bursaria spinosa is highly variable in appearance and habit, as are other species within the genus, and there have been several attempts at classification since their discovery. For example, in 1893, Jules Alexandre Daveau, in Désiré Georges Jean Marie Bois's Dictionnaire d'Horticulture, described varieties inermis (meaning "without spines") and macrophylla ("large leaves"), but var. macrophylla was a nomen illegitimum because it had already been used by William Jackson Hooker in 1834.
A 1999 revision of the genus recognised only two subspecies and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
Bursaria spinosa subsp. lasiophylla (E.M.Benn.) L.Cayzer, Crisp & I.Telford has shorter, wider leaves and smaller flowers than the autonym, only reaches a height of 5 m (16 ft), replaces the autonym on heavier clay soils, and occurs in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia;
Bursaria spinosa Cav. subsp. spinosa is a shrub or small tree to 5–10 m (16–33 ft) and is widely distributed across eastern Australia, including Queensland and Tasmania.
Subspecies lasiophylla had been known as Bursaria lasiophylla, first formally described in 1978 by Eleanor Marion Bennett, but reduced to a subspecies by Lindy Cayzer, Michael Crisp and Ian Telford in 1999.


Bursaria spinosa is widespread and common in the understorey of eucalypt woodland in all states of Australia, apart from Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
In New South Wales, B. spinosa grows in dry to wet forest in all but the most arid parts of the state, and is sometimes a weed on cleared land. In the Sydney region, it grows on clay- and shale-based soils, as an understory plant in association with grey box (Eucalyptus moluccana) and forest red gum (E. tereticornis) as well as the grass Themeda australis. It can form thickets on ungrazed farmland. In Victoria, the species is widespread and common throughout the state, except for the far north west, in heavier soils and in alpine areas, in South Australia it is widespread in the south-east of the state and in Tasmania it mainly occurs in dry areas.
Subspecies lasiophylla has a more restricted distribution, and in New South Wales is found on the central and south coasts and central and southern tablelands, growing in woodland on heavier clay soils than subsp. spinosa. In Victoria, this subspecies mainly grows in dry, rocky places in forest and shrubland in eastern and central-western areas of that state.


Living for 25 to 60 years, Bursaria spinosa can resprout from its woody base after bushfire. Highly rhizomatous, plants of a stand are often genetically a single plant. Despite being genetically identical, different plants and even single shoots can be very distinct in appearance (for instance, spineless shoots previously regarded as a subspecies "inermis"). Its seed is wind-dispersed and it is a colonising plant.
A wide variety of insects visit the flowers of Bursaria spinosa, the most important pollinators of which appear to be beetles of several families. Common visitors recorded from field work around Armidale were jewel beetle species such as Curis splendens and Stigmodera inflata; longicorn beetles including Amphirhoe sloanei and Tropocalymma dimidiatum; scarab beetles; and tumbling flower beetles. Beetles and scoliid wasps all carried significant amounts of pollen. Other visitors such as flies and butterflies carried much lower amounts. The larvae of the jewel beetle species Astraeus crassus live in tunnels in dead and dying branches. Caterpillars which feed on Bursaria spinosa include Proselena annosana, two-ribbed arctiid (Palaeosia bicosta) and bark looper moth (Ectropis subtinctaria), while those of the clouded footman (Anestia ombrophanes) graze on algae and lichens which grow on the branches.
The bright copper (Paralucia aurifera) and ant species Anonychomyrma nitidiceps form a complex symbiotic relationship on Bursaria spinosa. Butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves, and the caterpillars feed on the leaves before pupating in the soil at the foot of the plant. The ants excavate chambers in the soil where the caterpillars sleep and later pupate, and accompany the caterpillars when the latter are feeding. They are thought to feed on the caterpillars' secretions. Caterpillars of the fiery copper (Paralucia pyrodiscus) are likewise accompanied by ants of the genus Notoncus, and the third species, the endangered Bathurst copper (Paralucia spinifera), also breeds and feeds exclusively on the subspecies lasiophylla in Central New South Wales.
Cattle and rabbits graze on young plants.


The drug aesculin, used in medical research and in the 1940s, as an ingredient in sunscreen, is harvested from the plant in the Sydney region. Although its thorns make it unpopular in cultivation, it can be useful as a deterrent barrier. It is can be grown from fresh seed or from cuttings and is hardy in most situations. Bursaria spinosa provides nectar for butterflies and a haven for small birds.


The black-collared hawk (Busarellus nigricollis) is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is monotypic within the genus Busarellus.  It has a widespread range of presence, from western Mexico to Uruguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical swamps, and swamps.
The adult black-collared hawk has a more or less white head, tinged with buff, and with black shaft streaks on the crown. The body, above and below, and the mantle are bright cinnamon-rufous, paler on the chest. There is a black crescent on the upper breast. The back has scattered black shaft stripes; the flight and tail feathers are black with the base of the tail barred with rufous. The eyes are bright reddish brown, the cere and bill black, and the legs bluish white. Immatures are similar, but blotched with black, including on the crown, and the rufous barring on the tail is more extensive. The pale area on the chest is also more clearly marked. The upper surface of the wings is barred, and the eyes are brown.
The nest is usually placed in a large tree, frequently near water, but sometimes in shade trees in coffee plantations or suburban areas. The nest is lined with green leaves. The female lays three to five eggs, dull white, spotted with pale yellow-brown or red-brown and a few darker freckles. There is no further information on its reproduction.
The black-collared hawk lives on a diet mainly composed of fish. It also eats water bugs and occasionally lizards, snails and rodents.
In the 1870s, Ridgeway wrote that Busarellus (then known as Ichthyoborus) had the "general form and appearance of Buteogallus aequinoctialis", but that it "is much more nearly related to the heliatine groups", in which he included Milvus, Haliastur, and Haliaaetus.  During the early-to-mid 20th century, Busarellus was conventionally placed near Buteogallus in taxonomic order.
The black-collared hawk has the basal phalanges of the inner toe fused, which may be an adaptation to prevent the toe from bending back when catching prey.  This feature is shared with Ictinia and with the group of true milvine kites and sea eagles (Milvus, Haliastur, Haliaaetus, and Icthyophaga).  Research in molecular phylogenetics during the early 21st century indicates that there is a clear milvine–haliaetine clade that is related to a large group of buteonine hawks and their relatives. Within the buteonine group, Ictinia is near-basal, and Busarellus is a member of a clade shared with Geranospiza, Rostrhamus, and Helicolestes.


The common buzzard (Buteo buteo) is a medium-to-large bird of prey which has a large range. A member of the genus Buteo, it is a member of the family Accipitridae. The species lives in most of Europe and extends its breeding range across much of the Palearctic as far as northwestern China (Tian Shan), far western Siberia and northwestern Mongolia. Over much of its range, it is a year-round resident. However, buzzards from the colder parts of the Northern Hemisphere as well as those that breed in the eastern part of their range typically migrate south for the northern winter, many journeying as far as South Africa. The common buzzard is an opportunistic predator that can take a wide variety of prey, but it feeds mostly on small mammals, especially rodents such as voles. It typically hunts from a perch. Like most accipitrid birds of prey, it builds a nest, typically in trees in this species, and is a devoted parent to a relatively small brood of young. The common buzzard appears to be the most common diurnal raptor in Europe, as estimates of its total global population run well into the millions.


The first formal description of the common buzzard was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Falco buteo. The genus Buteo was introduced by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799 by tautonymy with the specific name of this species. The word buteo is Latin for a buzzard. It should not be confused with the Turkey vulture, which is sometimes called a buzzard in American English.
The Buteoninae subfamily originated from and is most diversified in the Americas, with occasional broader radiations that led to common buzzards and other Eurasian and African buzzards. The common buzzard is a member of the genus Buteo, a group of medium-sized raptors with robust bodies and broad wings. The Buteo species of Eurasia and Africa are usually commonly referred to as "buzzards" while those in the Americas are called hawks. Under current classification, the genus includes approximately 28 species, the second most diverse of all extant accipitrid genera behind only Accipiter. DNA testing shows that the common buzzard is fairly closely related to the red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) of North America, which occupies a similar ecological niche to the buzzard in that continent. The two species may belong to the same species complex. Two buzzards in Africa are likely closely related to the common buzzard based on genetic materials, the mountain (Buteo oreophilus) and forest buzzards (Buteo trizonatus), to the point where it has been questioned whether they are sufficiently distinct to qualify as full species. However, the distinctiveness of these African buzzards has generally been supported. Genetic studies have further indicated that the modern buzzards of Eurasia and Africa are a relatively young group, showing that they diverged at about 300,000 years ago. Nonetheless, fossils dating earlier than 5 million year old (the late Miocene period) showed Buteo species were present in Europe much earlier than that would imply, although it cannot be stated to a certainty that these would’ve been related to the extant buzzards.


The common buzzard is a medium-sized raptor that is highly variable in plumage. Most buzzards are distinctly round headed with a somewhat slender bill, relatively long wings that either reach or fall slightly short of the tail tip when perched, a fairly short tail, and somewhat short and mainly bare tarsi. They can appear fairly compact in overall appearance but may also appear large relative to other commoner raptorial birds such as kestrels and sparrowhawks. The common buzzard measures between 40 and 58 cm (16 and 23 in) in length with a 109–140 cm (43–55 in) wingspan. Females average about 2–7% larger than males linearly and weigh about 15% more. Body mass can show considerable variation. Buzzards from Great Britain alone can vary from 427 to 1,183 g (0.941 to 2.608 lb) in males, while females there can range from 486 to 1,370 g (1.071 to 3.020 lb).
In Europe, most typical buzzards are dark brown above and on the upperside of the head and mantle, but can become paler and warmer brown with worn plumage. The flight feathers on perched European buzzards are always brown in the nominate subspecies (B. b. buteo). Usually the tail will usually be narrowly barred grey-brown and dark brown with a pale tip and a broad dark subterminal band but the tail in palest birds can show a varying amount a white and reduced subterminal band or even appear almost all white. In European buzzards, the underside coloring can be variable but most typically show a brown-streaked white throat with a somewhat darker chest. A pale U across breast is often present; followed by a pale line running down the belly which separates the dark areas on breast-side and flanks. These pale areas tend to have highly variable markings that tend to form irregular bars. Juvenile buzzards are quite similar to adult in the nominate race, being best told apart by having a paler eye, a narrower subterminal band on the tail and underside markings that appear as streaks rather than bars. Furthermore, juveniles may show variable creamy to rufous fringes to upperwing coverts but these also may not be present. Seen from below in flight, buzzards in Europe typically have a dark trailing edge to the wings. If seen from above, one of the best marks is their broad dark subterminal tail band. Flight feathers of typical European buzzards are largely greyish, the aforementioned dark wing linings at front with contrasting paler band along the median coverts. In flight, paler individuals tend to show dark carpal patches that can appears as blackish arches or commas but these may be indistinct in darker individuals or can appear light brownish or faded in paler individuals. Juvenile nominate buzzards are best told apart from adults in flight by the lack of a distinct subterminal band (instead showing fairly even barring throughout) and below by having less sharp and brownish rather than blackish trailing wing edge. Juvenile buzzards show streaking paler parts of under wing and body showing rather than barring as do adults. Beyond the typical mid-range brownish buzzard, birds in Europe can range from almost uniform black-brown above to mainly white. Extreme dark individuals may range from chocolate brown to blackish with almost no pale showing but a variable, faded U on the breast and with or without faint lighter brown throat streaks. Extreme pale birds are largely whitish with variable widely spaced streaks or arrowheads of light brown about the mid-chest and flanks and may or may not show dark feather-centres on the head, wing-coverts and sometimes all but part of mantle. Individuals can show nearly endless variation of colours and hues in between these extremes and the common buzzard is counted among the most variably plumage diurnal raptors for this reason. One study showed that this variation may actually be the result of diminished single-locus genetic diversity.
Beyond the nominate form (B. b. buteo) that occupies most of the common buzzard's European range, a second main, widely distributed subspecies is known as the steppe buzzard (B. b. vulpinus). The steppe buzzard race shows three main colour morphs, each of which can be predominant in a region of breeding range. It is more distinctly polymorphic rather than just individually very variable like the nominate race. This may be because, unlike the nominate buzzard, the steppe buzzard is highly migratory. Polymorphism has been linked with migratory behaviour. The most common type of steppe buzzard is the rufous morph which gives this subspecies its scientific name (vulpes is Latin for "fox"). This morph comprises a majority of birds seen in passage east of the Mediterranean. Rufous morph buzzards are a paler grey-brown above than most nominate B. b. buteo. Compared to the nominate race, rufous vulpinus show a patterning not dissimilar but generally far more rufous-toned on head, the fringes to mantle wing coverts and, especially, on the tail and the underside. The head is grey-brown with rufous tinges usually while the tail is rufous and can vary from almost unmarked to thinly dark-barred with a subterminal band. The underside can be uniformly pale to dark rufous, barred heavily or lightly with rufous or with dusky barring, usually with darker individuals showing the U as in nominate but with a rufous hue. The pale morph of the steppe buzzard is commonest in the west of its subspecies range, predominantly seen in winter and migration at the various land bridge of the Mediterranean. As in the rufous morph, the pale morph vulpinus is grey-brown above but the tail is generally marked with thin dark bars and a subterminal band, only showing rufous near the tip. The underside in the pale morph is greyish-white with dark grey-brown or somewhat streaked head to chest and barred belly and chest, occasionally showing darker flanks that can be somewhat rufous. Dark morph vulpinus tend to be found in the east and southeast of the subspecies range and are easily outnumbered by rufous morph while largely using similar migration points. Dark morph individuals vary from grey-brown to much darker blackish-brown, and have a tail that is dark grey or somewhat mixed grey and rufous, is distinctly marked with dark barring and has a broad, black subterminal band. Dark morph vulpinus have a head and underside that is mostly uniform dark, from dark brown to blackish-brown to almost pure black. Rufous morph juveniles are often distinctly paler in ground colour (ranging even to creamy-grey) than adults with distinct barring below actually increased in pale morph type juvenile. Pale and rufous morph juveniles can only be distinguished from each other in extreme cases. Dark morph juveniles are more similar to adult dark morph vulpinus but often show a little whitish streaking below, and like all other races have lighter coloured eyes and more evenly barred tails than adults. Steppe buzzards tend to appear smaller and more agile in flight than nominate whose wing beats can look slower and clumsier. In flight, rufous morph vulpinus have their whole body and underwing varying from uniform to patterned rufous (if patterning present, it is variable, but can be on chest and often thighs, sometimes flanks, pale band across median coverts), while the under-tail usually paler rufous than above. Whitish flight feathers are more prominent than in nominate and more marked contrast with the bold dark brown band along the trailing edges. Markings of pale vulpinus as seen in flight are similar to rufous morph (such as paler wing markings) but more greyish both on wings and body. In dark morph vulpinus the broad black trailing edges and colour of body make whitish areas of inner wing stand out further with an often bolder and blacker carpal patch than in other morphs. As in nominate, juvenile vulpinus (rufous/pale) tend to have much less distinct trailing edges, general streaking on body and along median underwing coverts. Dark morph vulpinus resemble adult in flight more so than other morphs.


The common buzzard is often confused with other raptors especially in flight or at a distance. Inexperienced and over-enthusiastic observers have even mistaken darker birds for the far larger and differently proportioned golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and also dark birds for western marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus) which also flies in a dihedral but is obviously relatively much longer and slenderer winged and tailed and with far different flying methods. Also buzzards may possibly be confused with dark or light morph booted eagles (Hieraeetus pennatus), which are similar in size, but the eagle flies on level, parallel-edged wings which usually appear broader, has a longer squarer tail, with no carpal patch in pale birds and all dark flight feathers but for whitish wedge on inner primaries in dark morph ones. Pale individuals are sometimes also mistaken with pale morph short-toed eagles (Circaetus gallicus) which are much larger with a considerably bigger head, longer wings (which are usually held evenly in flight rather than in a dihedral) and paler underwing lacking any carpal patch or dark wing lining. More serious identification concerns lie in other Buteo species and in flight with honey buzzards, which are quite different looking when seen perched at close range. The European honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus) is thought in engage in mimicry of more powerful raptors, in particular, juveniles may mimic the plumage of the more powerful common buzzard. While less individually variable in Europe, the honey buzzard is more extensive polymorphic on underparts than even the common buzzard. The most common morph of the adult European honey buzzard is heavily and rufous barred on the underside, quite different from the common buzzard, however the brownish juvenile much more resembles an intermediate common buzzard. Honey buzzards flap with distinctively slower and more even wing beats than common buzzard. The wings are also lifted higher on each upstroke, creating a more regular and mechanical effect, furthermore their wings are held slightly arched when soaring but not in a V. On the honey buzzard, the head appears smaller, the body thinner, the tail longer and the wings narrower and more parallel edged. The steppe buzzard race is particularly often mistaken for juvenile European honey buzzards, to the point where early observers of raptor migration in Israel considered distant individuals indistinguishable. However, when compared to a steppe buzzard, the honey buzzard has distinctly darker secondaries on the underwing with fewer and broader bars and more extensive black wing-tips (whole fingers) contrasting with a less extensively pale hand. Found in the same range as the steppe buzzard in some parts of southern Siberia as well as (with wintering steppes) in southwestern India, the Oriental honey buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus) is larger than both the European honey buzzard and the common buzzard. The oriental species is with more similar in body plan to common buzzards, being relatively broader winged, shorter tailed and more amply-headed (though the head is still relatively small) relative to the European honey buzzard, but all plumages lack carpal patches.
In much of Europe, the common buzzard is the only type of buzzard. However, the subarctic breeding rough-legged buzzard (Buteo lagopus) comes down to occupy much of the northern part of the continent during winter in the same haunts as the common buzzard. However, the rough-legged buzzard is typically larger and distinctly longer-winged with feathered legs, as well as having a white based tail with a broad subterminal band. Rough-legged buzzards have slower wing beats and hover far more frequently than do common buzzards. The carpal patch marking on the under-wing are also bolder and blacker on all paler forms of rough-legged hawk. Many pale morph rough-legged buzzards have a bold, blackish band across the belly against contrasting paler feathers, a feature which rarely appears in individual common buzzard. Usually the face also appears somewhat whitish in most pale morphs of rough-legged buzzards, which is true of only extremely pale common buzzards. Dark morph rough-legged buzzards are usually distinctly darker (ranging to almost blackish) than even extreme dark individuals of common buzzards in Europe and still have the distinct white-based tail and broad subterminal band of other roughlegs. In eastern Europe and much of the Asian range of common buzzards, the long-legged buzzard (Buteo rufinus) may live alongside the common species. As in the steppe buzzard race, the long-legged buzzard has three main colour morphs that are more or less similar in hue. In both the steppe buzzard race and long-legged buzzard, the main colour is overall fairly rufous. More so than steppe buzzards, long-legged buzzards tend to have a distinctly paler head and neck compared to other feathers, and, more distinctly, a normally unbarred tail. Furthermore, the long-legged buzzard is usually a rather larger bird, often considered fairly eagle-like in appearance (although it does appear gracile and small-billed even compared to smaller true eagles), an effect enhanced by its longer tarsi, somewhat longer neck and relatively elongated wings. The flight style of the latter species is deeper, slower and more aquiline, with much more frequent hovering, showing a more protruding head and a slightly higher V held in a soar. The smaller North African and Arabian race of long-legged buzzard (B. r. cirtensis) is more similar in size and nearly all colour characteristics to steppe buzzard, extending to the heavily streaked juvenile plumage, in some cases such birds can be distinguished only by their proportions and flight patterns which remain unchanged. Hybridization with the latter race (B. r. cirtensis) and nominate common buzzards has been observed in the Strait of Gibraltar, a few such birds have been reported potentially in the southern Mediterranean due to mutually encroaching ranges, which are blurring possibly due to climate change.
Wintering steppe buzzards may live alongside mountain buzzards and especially with forest buzzard while wintering in Africa. The juveniles of steppe and forest buzzards are more or less indistinguishable and only told apart by proportions and flight style, the latter species being smaller, more compact, having a smaller bill, shorter legs and shorter and thinner wings than a steppe buzzard. However, size is not diagnostic unless side by side as the two buzzards overlap in this regard. Most reliable are the species wing proportions and their flight actions. Forest buzzard have more flexible wing beats interspersed with glides, additionally soaring on flatter wings and apparently never engage in hovering. Adult forest buzzards compared to the typical adult steppe buzzard (rufous morph) are also similar, but the forest typically has a whiter underside, sometimes mostly plain white, usually with heavy blotches or drop-shaped marks on abdomen, with barring on thighs, more narrow tear-shaped on chest and more spotted on leading edges of underwing, usually lacking marking on the white U across chest (which is otherwise similar but usually broader than that of vulpinus). In comparison, the mountain buzzard, which is more similar in size to the steppe buzzard and slightly larger than the forest buzzard, is usually duller brown above than a steppe buzzard and is more whitish below with distinctive heavy brown blotches from breasts to the belly, flanks and wing linings while juvenile mountain buzzard is buffy below with smaller and streakier markings. The steppe buzzard when compared to another African species, the red-necked buzzard (Buteo auguralis), which has red tail similar to vulpinus, is distinct in all other plumage aspects despite their similar size. The latter buzzard has a streaky rufous head and is white below with a contrasting bold dark chest in adult plumage and, in juvenile plumage, has heavy, dark blotches on the chest and flanks with pale wing-linings. Jackal and augur buzzards (Buteo rufofuscus & augur), also both rufous on the tail, are larger and bulkier than steppe buzzards and have several distinctive plumage characteristics, most notably both having their own striking, contrasting patterns of black-brown, rufous and cream.


The common buzzard is found throughout several islands in the eastern Atlantic islands, including the Canary Islands and Azores and almost throughout Europe. It is today found in Ireland and in nearly every part of Scotland, Wales and England. In mainland Europe, remarkably, there are no substantial gaps without breeding common buzzards from Portugal and Spain to Greece, Estonia, Belarus and Ukraine, though are present mainly only in the breeding season in much of the eastern half of the latter three countries. They are also present in all larger Mediterranean islands such as Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily and Crete. Further north in Scandinavia, they are found mainly in southeastern Norway (though also some points in southwestern Norway close to the coast and one section north of Trondheim), just over the southern half of Sweden and hugging over the Gulf of Bothnia to Finland where they live as a breeding species over nearly two-thirds of the land.
The common buzzard reaches its northern limits as a breeder in far eastern Finland and over the border to European Russia, continuing as a breeder over to the narrowest straits of the White Sea and nearly to the Kola Peninsula. In these northern quarters, the common buzzard is present typically only in summer but is a year-around resident of a hearty bit of southern Sweden and some of southern Norway. Outside of Europe, it is a resident of northern Turkey (largely close to the Black Sea) otherwise occurring mainly as a passage migrant or winter visitor in the remainder of Turkey, Georgia, sporadically but not rarely in Azerbaijan and Armenia, northern Iran (largely hugging the Caspian Sea) to northern Turkmenistan. Further north though its absent from either side of the northern Caspian Sea, the common buzzard is found in much of western Russia (though exclusively as a breeder) including all of the Central Federal District and the Volga Federal District, all but the northernmost parts of the Northwestern and Ural Federal Districts and nearly the southern half of the Siberian Federal District, its farthest easterly occurrence as a breeder. It also found in northern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, far northwestern China (Tien Shan) and northwestern Mongolia.
Non-breeding populations occur, either as migrants or wintering birds, in southwestern India, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt (northeastern), northern Tunisia (and far northwestern Algeria), northern Morocco, near the coasts of The Gambia, Senegal and far southwestern Mauritania and Ivory Coast (and bordering Burkina Faso). In eastern and central Africa, it is found in winter from southeastern Sudan, Eritrea, about two-thirds of Ethiopia, much of Kenya (though apparently absent from the northeast and northwest), Uganda, southern and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and more or less the entirety of southern Africa from Angola across to Tanzania down the remainder of the continent (but for an apparent gap along the coast from southwestern Angola to northwestern South Africa).


The common buzzard generally inhabits the interface of woodlands and open grounds; most typically the species lives in forest edge, small woods or shelterbelts with adjacent grassland, arables or other farmland. It acquits to open moorland as long as there is some trees for perch hunting and nesting use. The woods they inhabit may be coniferous, temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and temperate deciduous forest with occasional preferences for the local dominant tree. It is absent from treeless tundra, as well as the Subarctic where the species almost entirely gives way to the rough-legged buzzard. The common buzzard is sporadic or rare in treeless steppe but can occasionally migrate through it (despite its name, the steppe buzzard subspecies breeds primarily in the wooded fringes of the steppe). The species may be found to some extent in both in mountainous or flat country. Although adaptable to and sometimes seen in wetlands and in coastal areas, buzzards are often considered more of an upland species and neither appear to be regularly attracted to or to strongly avoid bodies of waters in non-migratory times. Buzzards in well-wooded areas of eastern Poland largely used large, mature stands of trees that were more humid, richer and denser than prevalent in surrounding area, but showed preference for those within 30 to 90 m (98 to 295 ft) of openings. Mostly resident buzzards live in lowlands and foothills, but they can live in timbered ridges and uplands as well as rocky coasts, sometimes nesting on cliff ledges rather than trees. Buzzards may live from sea level to elevations of 2,000 m (6,600 ft), breeding mostly below 1,000 m (3,300 ft) but they can winter to an elevation of 2,500 m (8,200 ft) and migrates easily to 4,500 m (14,800 ft). In the mountainous Italian Apennines, buzzard nests were at a mean elevation of 1,399 m (4,590 ft) and were, relative to the surrounding area, further from human developed areas (i.e. roads) and nearer to valley bottoms in rugged, irregularly topographed places, especially ones that faced northeast. Common buzzards are fairly adaptable to agricultural lands but will show can show regional declines in apparent response to agriculture. Changes to more extensive agricultural practices were shown to reduce buzzard populations in western France where reduction of “hedgerows, woodlots and grasslands areas" caused a decline of buzzards and in Hampshire, England where more extensive grazing by free-range cattle and horses led to declines of buzzards, probably largely due to the seeming reduction of small mammal populations there. On the contrary, buzzards in central Poland adapted to removal of pine trees and reduction of rodent prey by changing nest sites and prey for a time with no strong change in their local numbers. Extensive urbanization seems to negatively affect buzzards, this species being generally less adaptable to urban areas than their New World counterparts, the red-tailed hawk. Although peri-urban areas can actually increase potential prey populations in a location at times, individual buzzard mortality, nest disturbances and nest site habitat degradation rises significantly in such areas. Common buzzards are fairly adaptive to rural areas as well as suburban areas with parks and large gardens, in addition to such areas if they're near farms.


The common buzzard is a typical Buteo in much of its behaviour. It is most often seen either soaring at varying heights or perched prominently on tree tops, bare branches, telegraph poles, fence posts, rocks or ledges, or alternately well inside tree canopies. Buzzards will also stand and forage on the ground. In resident populations, it may spend more than half of its day inactively perched. Furthermore, it has been described a "sluggish and not very bold" bird of prey. It is a gifted soarer once aloft and can do so for extended periods but can appear laborious and heavy in level flight, more so nominate buzzards than steppe buzzards. Particularly in migration, as was recorded in the case of steppe buzzards' movement over Israel, buzzards readily adjust their direction, tail and wing placement and flying height to adjust for the surrounding environment and wind conditions. In Israel, migrant buzzards rarely soar all that high (maximum 1,000–2,000 m (3,300–6,600 ft) above ground) due to the lack of mountain ridges that in other areas typically produce flyways; however tail-winds are significant and allow birds to cover a mean of 9.8 metres per second (22 miles per hour).


The common buzzard is aptly described as a partial migrant. The autumn and spring movements of buzzards are subject to extensive variation, even down to the individual level, based on a region's food resources, competition (both from other buzzards and other predators), extent of human disturbance and weather conditions. Short distance movements are the norm for juveniles and some adults in autumn and winter, but more adults in central Europe and the British Isles remain on their year-around residence than do not. Even for first year juvenile buzzards dispersal may not take them very far. In England, 96% of first-years moved in winter to less than 100 km (62 mi) from their natal site. Southwestern Poland was recorded to be a fairly important wintering grounds for central European buzzards in early spring that apparently travelled from somewhat farther north, in winter average density was a locally high 2.12 individual per square kilometer. Habitat and prey availability seemed to be the primary drivers of habitat selection in fall for European buzzards. In northern Germany, buzzards were recorded to show preferences in fall for areas fairly distant from nesting site, with a large quantity of vole-holes and more widely dispersed perches. In Bulgaria, the mean wintering density was 0.34 individual per square kilometer, and buzzards showed a preference for agricultural over forested areas. Similar habitat preferences were recorded in northeastern Romania, where buzzard density was 0.334–0.539 individuals per square kilometer. The nominate buzzards of Scandinavia are somewhat more strongly migratory than most central European populations. However, birds from Sweden show some variation in migratory behaviours. A maximum of 41,000 individuals have been recorded at one of the main migration sites within southern Sweden in Falsterbo. In southern Sweden, winter movements and migration was studied via observation of buzzard colour. White individuals were substantially more common in southern Sweden rather than further north in their Swedish range. The southern population migrates earlier than intermediate to dark buzzards, in both adults and juveniles. A larger proportion of juveniles than of adults migrate in the southern population. Especially adults in the southern population are resident to a higher degree than more northerly breeders.
The entire population of the steppe buzzard is strongly migratory, covering substantial distances during migration. In no part of the range do steppe buzzards use the same summering and wintering grounds. Steppe buzzards are slightly gregarious in migration, and travel in variously sized flocks. This race migrates in September to October often from Asia Minor to the Cape of Africa in about a month but does not cross water, following around the Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria rather than crossing the several kilometer wide gulf. Similarly, they will funnel along both sides of the Black Sea. Migratory behavior of steppe buzzards mirrors those of broad-winged & Swainson's hawks (Buteo platypterus & swainsoni) in every significant way as similar long-distance migrating Buteos, including trans-equatorial movements, avoidance of large bodies of waters and flocking behaviour. Migrating steppe buzzards will rise up with the morning thermals and can cover an average of hundreds of miles a day using the available currents along mountain ridges and other topographic features. The spring migration for steppe buzzards peaks around March–April, but the latest vulpinus arrive in their breeding grounds by late April or early May. Distances covered by migrating steppe buzzards in one way flights from northern Europe (i.e. Finland or Sweden) to southern Africa have ranged over 13,000 km (8,100 mi) within a season . For the steppe buzzards from eastern and northern Europe and western Russia (which compromise a majority of all steppe buzzards), peak migratory numbers occur in differing areas in autumn, when the largest recorded movements occurs through Asia Minor such as Turkey, than in spring, when the largest recorded movement are to the south in the Middle East, especially Israel. The two migratory movements barely differ overall until they reach the Middle East and east Africa, where the largest volume of migrants in autumn occurs at the southern part of the Red Sea, around Djibouti and Yemen, while the main volume in spring is in the northernmost strait, around Egypt and Israel. In autumn, numbers of steppe buzzards recorded in migration have ranged up to 32,000 (recorded 1971) in northwestern Turkey (Bosporus) and in northeastern Turkey (Black Sea) up to 205,000 (recorded 1976). Further down in migration, autumn numbers of up to 98,000 have been recorded in passage in Djibouti. Between 150,000 and nearly 466,000 Steppe Buzzard have been recorded migrating through Israel during spring, making this not only the most abundant migratory raptor here but one of the largest raptor migrations anywhere in the world. Migratory movements of southern Africa buzzards largely occur along the major mountain ranges, such as the Drakensberg and Lebombo Mountains. Wintering steppe buzzards occur far more irregularly in Transvaal than Cape region in winter. The onset of migratory movement for steppe buzzards back to the breeding grounds in southern Africa is mainly in March, peaking in the second week. Steppe buzzard molt their feathers rapidly upon arrival at wintering grounds and seems to split their flight feather molt between breeding ground in Eurasia and wintering ground in southern Africa, the molt pausing during migration. In last 50 years, it was recorded that nominate buzzards are typically migrating shorter distances and wintering further north, possibly in response to climate change, resulting in relatively smaller numbers of them at migration sites. They are also extending their breeding range possibly reducing/supplanting steppe buzzards.


Resident populations of common buzzards tend to vocalize all year around, whereas migrants tend to vocalize only during the breeding season. Both nominate buzzards and steppe buzzards (and their numerous related subspecies within their types) tend to have similar voices. The main call of the species is a plaintive, far-carrying pee-yow or peee-oo, used as both contact call and more excitedly in aerial displays. Their call is sharper, more ringing when used in aggression, tends to be more drawn-out and wavering when chasing intruders, sharper, more yelping when as warning when approaching the nest or shorter and more explosive when called in alarm. Other variations of their vocal performances include a cat-like mew, uttered repeatedly on the wing or when perched, especially in display; a repeated mah has been recorded as uttered by pairs answering each other, further chuckles and croaks have also been recorded at nests. Juveniles can usually be distinguished by the discordant nature of their calls compared to those of adults.


The common buzzard is a generalist predator which hunts a wide variety of prey given the opportunity. Their prey spectrum extents to a wide variety of vertebrates including mammals, birds (from any age from eggs to adult birds), reptiles, amphibians and, rarely, fish, as well as to various invertebrates, mostly insects. Young animals are often attacked, largely the nidifugous young of various vertebrates. In total well over 300 prey species are known to be taken by common buzzards. Furthermore, prey size can vary from tiny beetles, caterpillars and ants to large adult grouse and rabbits up to nearly twice their body mass. Mean body mass of vertebrate prey was estimated at 179.6 g (6.34 oz) in Belarus. At times, they will also subsist partially on carrion, usually of dead mammals or fish. However, dietary studies have shown that they mostly prey upon small mammals, largely small rodents. Like many temperate zone raptorial birds of varied lineages, voles are an essential part of the common buzzard's diet. This bird's preference for the interface between woods and open areas frequently puts them in ideal vole habitat. Hunting in relatively open areas has been found to increase hunting success whereas more complete shrub cover lowered success. A majority of prey is taken by dropping from perch, and is normally taken on ground. Alternately, prey may be hunted in a low flight. This species tends not to hunt in a spectacular stoop but generally drops gently then gradually accelerate at bottom with wings held above the back. Sometimes, the buzzard also forages by random glides or soars over open country, wood edges or clearings. Perch hunting may be done preferentially but buzzards fairly regularly also hunt from a ground position when the habitat demands it. Outside the breeding season, as many 15–30 buzzards have been recorded foraging on ground in a single large field, especially juveniles. Normally the rarest foraging type is hovering. A study from Great Britain indicated that hovering does not seem to increase hunting success.


A high diversity of rodents may be taken given the chance, as around 60 species of rodent have been recorded in the foods of common buzzards. It seems clear that voles are the most significant prey type for European buzzards. Nearly every study from the continent makes reference to the importance, in particular, of the two most numerous and widely distributed European voles: the 28.5 g (1.01 oz) common vole (Microtus arvalis) and the somewhat more northerly ranging 40 g (1.4 oz) field vole (Microtus agrestis). In southern Scotland, field voles were the best represented species in pellets, accounting for 32.1% of 581 pellets. In southern Norway, field voles were again the main food in years with peak vole numbers, accounting for 40.8% of 179 prey items in 1985 and 24.7% of 332 prey items in 1994. Altogether, rodents amount to 67.6% and 58.4% of the foods in these respective peak vole years. However, in low vole population years, the contribution of rodents to the diet was minor. As far west as the Netherlands, common voles were the most regular prey, amounting to 19.6% of 6624 prey items in a very large study. Common voles were the main foods recorded in central Slovakia, accounting for 26.5% of 606 prey items. The common vole, or other related vole species at times, were the main foods as well in the Ukraine (17.2% of 146 prey items) ranging east to Russia in the Privolshky Steppe Nature Reserve (41.8% of 74 prey items) and in Samara (21.4% of 183 prey items). Other records from Russia and the Ukraine show voles ranging from slightly secondary prey to as much as 42.2% of the diet. In Belarus, voles, including Microtus species and 18.4 g (0.65 oz) bank voles (Myodes glareolus), accounted for 34.8% of the biomass on average in 1065 prey items from different study areas over 4 years. At least 12 species of the genus Microtus are known to be hunted by common buzzards and even this is probably conservative, moreover similar species like lemmings will be taken if available.
Other rodents are taken largely opportunistically rather than by preference. Several wood mice (Apodemus ssp.) are known to be taken quite frequently but given their preference for activity in deeper woods than the field-forest interfaces preferred, they are rarely more than secondary food items. An exception was in Samara where the yellow-necked mouse (Apodemus flavicollis), one of the largest of its genus at 28.4 g (1.00 oz), made up 20.9%, putting it just behind the common vole in importance. Similarly, tree squirrels are readily taken but rarely important in the foods of buzzards in Europe, as buzzards apparently prefer to avoid taking prey from trees nor do they possess the agility typically necessary to capture significant quantities of tree squirrels. All four ground squirrels that range (mostly) into eastern Europe are also known to be common buzzard prey but little quantitative analysis has gone into how significant such predator-prey relations are. Rodent prey taken have ranged in size from the 7.8 g (0.28 oz) Eurasian harvest mouse (Micromys minutus) to the non-native, 1,100 g (2.4 lb) muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus). Other rodents taken either seldom or in areas where the food habits of buzzards are spottily known include flying squirrels, marmots (presumably very young if taken alive), chipmunks, spiny rats, hamsters, mole-rats, gerbils, jirds and jerboas and occasionally hearty numbers of dormice, although these are nocturnal. Surprisingly little research has gone into the diets of wintering steppe buzzards in southern Africa, considering their numerous status there. However, it has been indicated that the main prey remains consist of rodents such as the four-striped grass mouse (Rhabdomys pumilio) and Cape mole-rats (Georychus capensis).
Other than rodents, two other groups of mammals can be counted as significant to the diet of common buzzards. One of these main prey type of import in the diets of common buzzards are leporids or lagomorphs, especially the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) where it is found in numbers in a wild or feral state. In all dietary studies from Scotland, rabbits were highly important to the buzzard's diet. In southern Scotland, rabbits constituted 40.8% of remains at nests and 21.6% of pellet contents, while lagomorphs (mainly rabbits but also some young hares) were present in 99% of remains in Moray, Scotland. The nutritional richness relative to the commonest prey elsewhere, such as voles, might account for the high productivity of buzzards here. For example, clutch sizes were twice as large on average where rabbits were common (Moray) than were where they were rare (Glen Urquhart). In northern Ireland, an area of interest because it is devoid of any native vole species, rabbits were again the main prey. Here, lagomorphs constituted 22.5% of prey items by number and 43.7% by biomass. While rabbits are non-native, albeit long-established, in the British Isles, in their native area of the Iberian peninsula, rabbits are similarly significant to the buzzard's diet. In Murcia, Spain, rabbits were the most common mammal in the diet, making up 16.8% of 167 prey items. In a large study from northeastern Spain, rabbits were dominant in the buzzard's foods, making up 66.5% of 598 prey items. In the Netherlands, European rabbits were second in number (19.1% of 6624 prey items) only to common voles and the largest contributor of biomass to nests (36.7%). Outside of these (at least historically) rabbit-rich areas, leverets of the common hare species found in Europe can be important supplemental prey. European hare (Lepus europaeus) were the fourth most important prey species in central Poland and the third most significant prey species in Stavropol Krai, Russia. Buzzards normally attack the young of European rabbits, which as adults can average nearly 2,000 g (4.4 lb), and invariably (so far as is known) only the young of hares, which can average up to twice as massive as rabbits. The mean weights of rabbits taken have various been estimated from 159 to 550 g (5.6 to 19.4 oz) in different areas while mountain hares (Lepus timidus) taken in Norway were estimated to average about 1,000 g (2.2 lb), in both cases about a third of the weight of full-grown, prime adults of the respective species. However, hares and rabbits taken by female buzzards can infrequently include specimens that weigh up to 1,600 g (3.5 lb), including at times adult rabbits.
The other significant mammalian prey type is insectivores, among which more than 20 species are known to be taken by this species, including nearly all the species of shrew, mole and hedgehog found in Europe. Moles are taken particularly often among this order, since as is the case with "vole-holes", buzzard probably tend to watch molehills in fields for activity and dive quickly from their perch when one of the subterranean mammals pops up. The most widely found mole in the buzzard's northern range is the 98 g (3.5 oz) European mole (Talpa europaea) and this is one of the more important non-rodent prey items for the species. This species was present in 55% of 101 remains in Glen Urquhart, Scotland and was the second most common prey species (18.6%) in 606 prey items in Slovakia. In Bari, Italy, the Roman mole (Talpa romana), of similar size to the European species, was the leading identified mammalian prey, making up 10.7% of the diet. The full size range of insectivores may be taken by buzzards, ranging from the world's smallest mammal (by weight), the 1.8 g (0.063 oz) Etruscan shrew (Suncus etruscus) to arguably the heaviest insectivore, the 800 g (28 oz) European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus). Mammalian prey for common buzzards other than rodents, insectivores and lagomorphs is rarely taken. Occasionally, some weasels (including polecats) and perhaps martens might be attacked by buzzards, more likely the more powerful female buzzard since such prey is potentially dangerous and of similar size to a buzzard itself. Numerous larger mammals, including medium-sized carnivores such as dogs, cats and foxes and various ungulates, are sometimes eaten as carrion by buzzards, mainly during lean winter months. Still-borns of deer are also visited with some frequency.


When attacking birds, common buzzards chiefly prey on nestlings and fledglings of small to medium-sized birds, largely passerines but also a variety of gamebirds, but sometimes also injured, sickly or unwary but healthy adults. While capable of overpowering birds larger than itself, the common buzzard is usually considered to lack the agility necessary to capture many adult birds, even gamebirds which would presumably be weaker fliers considering their relatively heavy bodies and small wings. The amount of fledgling and younger birds preyed upon relative to adults is variable, however. For example, in the Italian Alps, 72% of birds taken were fledglings or recently fledged juveniles, 19% were nestlings and 8% were adults. On the contrary, in southern Scotland, even though the buzzards were taking relatively large bird prey, largely red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica), 87% of birds taken were reportedly adults. In total, as in many raptorial birds that are far from bird-hunting specialists, birds are the most diverse group in the buzzard's prey spectrum due to the sheer number and diversity of birds, few raptors do not hunt them at least occasionally. Nearly 150 species of bird have been identified in the common buzzard's diet. In general, despite many that are taken, birds usually take a secondary position in the diet after mammals. In northern Scotland, birds were fairly numerous in the foods of buzzards. The most often recorded avian prey and 2nd and 3rd most frequent prey species (after only field voles) in Glen Urquhart, were 23.9 g (0.84 oz) chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) and 18.4 g (0.65 oz) meadow pipits (Anthus pratensis), with the buzzards taking 195 fledglings of these species against only 90 adults. This differed from Moray where the most frequent avian prey and 2nd most frequent prey species behind the rabbit was the 480 g (17 oz) common wood pigeon (Columba palumbus) and the buzzards took four times as many adults relative to fledglings.
Birds were the primary food for common buzzards in the Italian Alps, where they made up 46% of the diet against mammal which accounted for 29% in 146 prey items. The leading prey species here were 103 g (3.6 oz) Eurasian blackbirds (Turdus merula) and 160 g (5.6 oz) Eurasian jays (Garrulus glandarius), albeit largely fledglings were taken of both. Birds could also take the leading position in years with low vole populations in southern Norway, in particular thrushes, namely the blackbird, the 67.7 g (2.39 oz) song thrush (Turdus philomelos) and the 61 g (2.2 oz) redwing (Turdus iliacus), which were collectively 22.1% of 244 prey items in 1993. In southern Spain, birds were equal in number to mammals in the diet, both at 38.3%, but most remains were classified as "unidentified medium-sized birds", although the most often identified species of those that apparently could be determined were Eurasian jays and red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa). Similarly, in northern Ireland, birds were roughly equal in import to mammals but most were unidentified corvids. In Seversky Donets, Ukraine, birds and mammals both made up 39.3% of the foods of buzzards. Common buzzards may hunt nearly 80 species passerines and nearly all available gamebirds. Like many other largish raptors, gamebirds are attractive to hunt for buzzards due to their ground-dwelling habits. Buzzards were the most frequent predator in a study of juvenile pheasants in England, accounting for 4.3% of 725 deaths (against 3.2% by foxes, 0.7% by owls and 0.5% by other mammals). They also prey on a wide size range of birds, ranging down to Europe's smallest bird, the 5.2 g (0.18 oz) goldcrest (Regulus regulus). Very few individual birds hunted by buzzards weigh more than 500 g (1.1 lb). However, there have been some particularly large avian kills by buzzards, including any that weigh more or 1,000 g (2.2 lb), or about the largest average size of a buzzard, have including adults of mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), common raven (Corvus corax) and some of the larger gulls if ambushed on their nests. The largest avian kill by a buzzard, and possibly largest known overall for the species, was an adult female western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) that weighed an estimated 1,985 g (4.376 lb). At times, buzzards will hunt the young of large birds such as herons and cranes. Other assorted avian prey has included a few species of waterfowl, most available pigeons and doves, cuckoos, swifts, grebes, rails, nearly 20 assorted shorebirds, tubenoses, hoopoes, bee-eaters and several types of woodpecker. Birds with more conspicuous or open nesting areas or habits are more likely to have fledglings or nestlings attacked, such as water birds, while those with more secluded or inaccessible nests, such as pigeons/doves and woodpeckers, adults are more likely to be hunted.


The common buzzard may be the most regular avian predator of reptiles and amphibians in Europe apart from the sections where they are sympatric with the largely snake-eating short-toed eagle. In total, the prey spectrum of common buzzards include nearly 50 herpetological prey species. In studies from northern and southern Spain, the leading prey numerically were both reptilian, although in Biscay (northern Spain) the leading prey (19%) was classified as "unidentified snakes". In Murcia, the most numerous prey was the 77.2 g (2.72 oz) ocellated lizard (Timon lepidus), at 32.9%. In total, at Biscay and Murcia, reptiles accounted for 30.4% and 35.9% of the prey items, respectively. Findings were similar in a separate study from northeastern Spain, where reptiles amounted to 35.9% of prey. In Bari, Italy, reptiles were the main prey, making up almost exactly half of the biomass, led by the large green whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus), maximum size up to 1,360 g (3.00 lb), at 24.2% of food mass. In Stavropol Krai, Russia, the 20 g (0.71 oz) sand lizard (Lacerta agilis) was the main prey at 23.7% of 55 prey items. The 16 g (0.56 oz) slowworm (Anguis fragilis), a legless lizard, became the most numerous prey for the buzzards of southern Norway in low vole years, amounting to 21.3% of 244 prey items in 1993 and were also common even in the peak vole year of 1994 (19% of 332 prey items). More or less any snake in Europe is potential prey and the buzzard has been known to be uncharacteristically bold in going after and overpowering large snakes such as rat snakes, ranging up to nearly 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) in length, and healthy, large vipers despite the danger of being struck by such prey. However, in at least one case, the corpse of a female buzzard was found envenomed over the body of an adder that it had killed. In some parts of range, the common buzzard acquires the habit of taking many frogs and toads. This was the case in the Mogilev Region of Belarus where the 23 g (0.81 oz) moor frog (Rana arvalis) was the major prey (28.5%) over several years, followed by other frogs and toads amounting to 39.4% of the diet over the years. In central Scotland, the 46 g (1.6 oz) common toad (Bufo bufo) was the most numerous prey species, accounting for 21.7% of 263 prey items, while the common frog (Rana temporaria) made up a further 14.7% of the diet. Frogs made up about 10% of the diet in central Poland as well.


When common buzzards feed on invertebrates, these are chiefly earthworms, beetles and caterpillars in Europe and largely seemed to be preyed on by juvenile buzzards with less refined hunting skills or in areas with mild winters and ample swarming or social insects. In most dietary studies, invertebrates are at best a minor supplemental contributor to the buzzard's diet. Nonetheless, roughly a dozen beetle species have found in the foods of buzzards from the Ukraine alone. In winter in northeastern Spain, it was found that the buzzards switched largely from the vertebrate prey typically taken during spring and summer to a largely insect-based diet. Most of this prey was unidentified but the most frequently identified were European mantis (Mantis religiosa) and European mole cricket (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa). In the Ukraine, 30.8% of the food by number was found to be insects. Especially in winter quarters such as southern Africa, common buzzards are often attracted to swarming locusts and other orthopterans. In this way the steppe buzzard may mirror a similar long-distance migrant from the Americas, the Swainson's hawk, which feeds its young largely on nutritious vertebrates but switches to a largely insect-based once the reach their distant wintering grounds in South America. In Eritea, 18 returning migrant steppe buzzards were seen to feed together on swarms of grasshoppers. For wintering steppe buzzards in Zimbabwe, one source went so far as to refer to them as primarily insectivorous, apparently being somewhat locally specialized to feeding on termites. Stomach contents in buzzards from Malawi apparently consisted largely of grasshoppers (alternately with lizards). Fish tend to be the rarest class of prey found in the common buzzard's foods. There are a couple cases of predation of fish detected in the Netherlands, while elsewhere they've been known to have fed upon eels and carp.