Common Buzzard

How to recognise it

• Compact and broad-winged, the female on average 2 to 7 percent larger than the male
• Usually brown and mottled but very variable, often with a pale U-shaped band across the breast
• From below in flight: paler underwing with a dark trailing edge
• Adults have yellow feet and cere, juveniles a paler eye and streaked underparts

Call and song

The main call is a plaintive, far-carrying “pii-jå” or “piii-o”. The falling, mewing call is heard mostly in flight and is often imitated by the Jay.

Where and when

About 35 000 pairs breed across much of wooded Sweden, but not in the mountains. It is a partial migrant: most move a short way to Europe for winter, but it winters in southern Sweden, especially Skåne. Migration south runs August to November, the return February to May. Up to 41 000 have been counted at Falsterbo. It is reported year-round from all 21 counties.

Food and behaviour

Its food is mainly small rodents such as voles and mice. It is often seen on freshly ploughed fields, searching for worms and insects. It likes to watch from trees or posts beside roads, looking for road-killed animals. The nest is built in a large tree, usually a spruce, and the female lays two to four eggs in April to May. The pair incubate together for 33 to 38 days.