Monday 24 January 2011

Tatty Tail

Between Ripple and Martin I was poodling along when I noticed a large bird of prey being mobbed by crows.

To the naked eye, and while driving, it looked to have a very short tail. Fortunately it stayed very much in view while I found a place to park and got my camera on it. In fact it was a Common Buzzard with extremely worn retrices.

I'm not sure when Buzzards normally moult their tail feathers, but these are certainly in need of renewal.
I assume that this is probably a juvenile bird and that it will moult it's tail in the next few months.

1 comment:

Derek Faulkner said...

Tony,
How nice it is to be able to "poodle", I love poodling, it is so relaxing and a lovely description of just taking your time.