Loved this piece, Katie. I'm equally fortunate to have a local buzzard family and every sighting is a pleasure - ubiquitous though they may be statistically speaking. They always seem to know to appear when I need to see them the most (anthropomorphising much here); perched along side the road through the common on my drive home, or regally seated on a low branch over the woodland path. One thing that I do find wonderful about their constance is, as you say above, the chance to watch their behaviour with greater frequency and, excitingly, greater proximity. The day a buzzard chased a pigeon into tree right in front of me was one I won't forget. Only one bird emerged!
Thanks Sophie! It is still thrilling to see a buzzard, isn't it? I like knowing that I'll usually see my lamp-post bird if I go past, but once I saw him - or one of his neighbours - down on the grass verge and that was really exciting! (I hope it was because he'd found something tasty there)
Watching buzzards doing their rollercoastery up and down display flights from my office window will never get old. It's the same with sparrowhawks I think - it took me a long time to see my first ones when I was growing up, but now I can easily see them most days at home.
Loved this piece, Katie. I'm equally fortunate to have a local buzzard family and every sighting is a pleasure - ubiquitous though they may be statistically speaking. They always seem to know to appear when I need to see them the most (anthropomorphising much here); perched along side the road through the common on my drive home, or regally seated on a low branch over the woodland path. One thing that I do find wonderful about their constance is, as you say above, the chance to watch their behaviour with greater frequency and, excitingly, greater proximity. The day a buzzard chased a pigeon into tree right in front of me was one I won't forget. Only one bird emerged!
Thanks Sophie! It is still thrilling to see a buzzard, isn't it? I like knowing that I'll usually see my lamp-post bird if I go past, but once I saw him - or one of his neighbours - down on the grass verge and that was really exciting! (I hope it was because he'd found something tasty there)
Watching buzzards doing their rollercoastery up and down display flights from my office window will never get old. It's the same with sparrowhawks I think - it took me a long time to see my first ones when I was growing up, but now I can easily see them most days at home.