Common Buzzard: how to recognise it
A bird of Europe, Africa and Asia. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © Manuel Raab · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Buteo buteo
- Family
- Hawks, Eagles, and Kites
- Size
- About 52 cm
- Habitat
- Farmland with woods and hedges, roadsides
- Found in
- Europe, Africa and Asia
The key marks
Very variable from dark brown to almost white, but usually with a pale band across the breast, broad rounded wings and a short, fan-shaped tail when soaring. Rough-legged Buzzard has a white tail with a broad dark tip band and a dark belly patch.
Voice
A drawn-out, mewing 'pieee-uu', like a cat.
Good to know
It is the most common bird of prey in the Netherlands and often sits on fence posts along motorways.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Rough-legged Hawk. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in farmland with woods and hedges, roadsides. It is especially common in Greece, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Türkiye. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.