Project ButeoCam: broedende Buizerd Buteo buteo bekeken met een camera

The daytime activities at a nest with three chicks of Common Buzzards in a Fraxinus excelsior (12m high) were recorded with a camera for about 500 hours during 11 days in the period of 10-30 June 2005, i.e. during the chick-rearing period. Nest attendance of the female was higher than of the male. On average the female visited the nest 11.9 times per day, for on average 17 minutes and 10 seconds per visit. The longest stay lasted 3.4 hours. Males visited the nest on average 7.1 times per day, and an average visit lasted only 9.0 seconds. Male visits were strictly restricted to bringing prey, whereas the female partitioned the prey, fed the chicks, removed large prey remains and added new nesting material. A total of 87 preys were recorded (on average 7.8 per day), but some may have been missed as prey deliveries took sometimes only seconds. Thirty-three prey items could not be identified to species. Among identified prey, Moles Talpa europaea were most abundant (40), the rest being voles (10), birds (3) and a frog (1). The male provisioned 66 prey (85% of the total), the female 21 (38%). Removing uneaten prey remains was common practice: the female did so on 48 occasions, almost exclusively remains of Moles. Although prey was delivered throughout the day, fewest were brought between 14.00 and 16.00 h summer time. A second peak in prey deliveries was recorded around 19.00 h. Removal of uneaten prey peaked between 21.00 and 22.00 h. A duckling was still alive when dropped on the nest, and managed to jump the nest before being eaten. The female frequently added up to ten fresh greeneries to the nest per day, mostly in early morning. The young were still sheltered by the female against rain when 25-26 days old; it took the chicks about ten minutes before they finally settled under her wings.