Jackal Buzzards
By Charlie • December 28, 2006 • 4 comments
Jackal Buzzard Buteo rufofuscus
South Africa, December 2006
The Jackal Buzzard is an endemic to south-west Africa (South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland, Namibia, and marginally into Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique), and is closely related to the similar and more northerly Augur Buzzard. Both are clearly members of the buteo group of raptors that includes the Eurasian Common Buzzard Buteo buteo and the North American Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis.
Small ground mammals make up about 65% of the diet, but snakes, lizards, small ground birds, insects, and road-kill are also taken. Typically, the raptor drops on its prey after ‘hanging’ on an updraft, from a hover, or from a perch.
Jackal Buzzards prefer mountainous and hilly terrain, with the majority of nests being built on cliffs. Interestingly they also typically nest on a variety of artificial structures, including electricity pylons and telephone poles, particularly in Namaqualand. It breeds from late-winter to early-summer throughout its range. Large nestlings have been observed in the nest on telephone poles in the Springbok-Vioolsdrift area during November and December.
These birds were all photographed along the R355 Karoopoort to Calvinia road in the western part of the Karoo (one of my favourite birding sites - for a trip-report (with plenty of photos) go to The Tanqua Karoo in December).
The R355 Karoopoort to Calvinia
Adult:
Immature:
All photos copyright Charlie Moores. 2007
Nice photos!! If you get some more photos of the Jackal Buzzard, please can you put them on your website… I would like to know if you can keep them as pets if you live on a big farm.
Hi. Thanks for the comment about the photos Murray-John: if I get more I’ll put them on the page, yes.
I’ve never heard of anyone wanting to keep Jackal Buzzards as pets before! You know, to my eyes what makes birds of prey like Jackal Buzzards so interesting and beautiful is their power of flight. Personally I’d much rather see them flying free than being kept as a pet where they can’t really fly where and when they want to…To be very honest I’d suggest you watch them a little bit more before trying to keep one at home and you’ll see what I mean.
Hi Charlie, we have a resident couple of Jackal Buzzards living right behind our house (Plettenberg Bay) although I was only able to identify them as Jackal Buzzards now. Thank you for that. We also have a resident couple of Fish Eagles behind us, really lucky, and there seemed to be some territorial issues in the beginning. Anyway it seems to be sorted now and both couples are seemingly happy. Thought i’d share that with you.
Take Care
Saskia
Hi Saskia. Glad to have been able to help! Jackal Buzzards and Fish eagles living beside you? Wow, that should lead to some exciting birding when the breeding season kicks in, bound to be the odd ‘bad temper’ moment between the two species….Cheers, Charlie