I had the enjoyable experience today of visiting a local Buzzard's nest to ring the chicks.
Our group consisted of around 14 or 15 Osprey volunteers and members of the public together with the Wildlife Officer and an RSPB representative.
We were taken to the area of the nest by two Forestry Commission Rangers who are experienced bird ringers. The group were instructed to spread out and sweep a small area of the forest looking out for evidence of a nest above. Upon locating the nest one of the Rangers had the task of climbing the tree to the nest while the other Ranger waited for the chicks to be lowered to the ground in a large bag.
Upon reaching the nest Ranger 1 advised us that there were four chicks which he duly placed in the bag and lowered it gently to the ground where his colleague removed the birds.
After examining each chick Ranger 2 was able to tell that 3 of the chicks were about 10 days old and the 4th which was much smaller was about a week old. He was also able to tell that the chicks had not eaten today yet although there were 4 dead rabbits in the nest.
After each chick was ringed we were able to handle the birds for a short time before they were returned to the nest.
It was a truly great experience and special mention must be made of the two Rangers who certainly knew their stuff, not only about Buzzards but about wildlife in general. As a special bonus we were also lucky enough to see a Red Squirrel climbing an adjacent tree.
1 comment:
Thank you for the picture of the buzzard's nest, though it was hard for me to tell what I was seeing. I was interested in finding a picture of one since a friend asked me if I had ever seen a buzzard's nest and asserted that no one had ever seen one. It is very possible that I may have seen one and not known it! I am living in Louisiana, USA but have lived most of my life in Oregon - lots of buzzards there too!
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