Come and let's watch some Jackal Buzzards doing their thing in the sky.
The jackal buzzard (Buteo rufofuscus) is a fairly large African bird of prey. The taxonomy of this species has caused some confusion in the past and it almost certainly belongs in a species complex with other African Buteo species. Some taxonomists have considered this species, the Archer's buzzard, and the augur buzzard to be the same superspecies. Many taxonomists consider them all to be distinct, having different calls, different home ranges and variations in plumage. This is a species that lives among mountains, and on adjacent savanna and grassland. It is resident and non-migratory throughout its range.
They were flying at a distance, and I took all of the images with my camera's zoom.
Sadly, no close up images of these magnificent predators, but I just had to show you the action shots that I got early in the morning on one of the farms here. I have yet to get one with a snake in its claws, but I am sure that one day I will get one.
I loved to see the color changes in the early sky, and we are lucky to have vast open areas in this country. That mountain popping through a cloud on the horizon was cuddled in a greenish sky and a deeper blue was up overhead.
Now during our new spring season, the big predator birds will be out to play and to feast on the newly birthed small animals and rodents and as I said above, also on snakes. We have a variety of snake species here in South Africa and the buzzards appear in almost all of our provinces. A problem for them is the large flocks of pied crows that we have, as the crows will often attack the buzzards in their numbers. I will show you the sizes of our pied crow flocks in another post and I believe that it is called a "Murder of Crows". What a name.
I hope that you have enjoyed the pictures and the story.
And That's All Friends.
Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.
Camera: Canon Powershot SX70HS Bridge camera.
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