Hunters of the Skies

WE ALL LOVE HAVING LOTS OF BIRDS IN OUR GARDENS, AND WE LOVE TO HEAR THEM SING OR TWITTER AS THEY GO ABOUT THEIR DAILY TASKS. BUT SOMETIMES EVERYTHING SEEMS TO CEASE.

Not a sound is heard, and no bird moves. Then if you look up into the sky, as likely as not, you will see a stately shape drift serenely past, high overhead. You are in the presence of a raptor, and every bird and small furry animal knows it and cowers in fear until it has passed. Man has used birds of prey for his hunting for centuries, probably millennia. In the 15th century the hierarchy of this “sport” was laid down: “An Eagle for an Emperor, a Gyrfalcon for a King; a Peregrine for a Prince, a Saker for a Knight, a Merlin for a Lady; a Goshawk for a Yeoman, a Sparrowhawk for a Priest, a Musket (male Sparrowhawk) for a Holy water Clerk, a Kestrel for a Knave.”

In this region we are lucky to be able to see many birds of prey during daylight. Broadly they fall, in this part of Europe at least, into two divisions; Falcons and Accipiters.

The Falcons

narrow, curved wings that come to a point at the tips. This is reflected in the name falcon, which derives from the Latin falx, a sickle. If you can get close enough, you will see that the upper bill has a projection on each side like a tooth near the tip, which fits a depression in the lower bill (very useful for dismembering a spinal column). Falcons will chase their prey, usually other birds, in flight, and the kill is often made in the air.

ByMikeGeorge

Falcons are the fighter-planes of the raptor world

The monarch of the falcons is the Peregrine (Falco peregrinus) (Fr: Faucon pèlerin). This is the acknowledged master of the “stoop” or deathplunge. It will fold its wings when its trajectory is set and it has been known to reach 200 miles per hour in freefall. The impact is sufficient to kill its prey (though the falcon’s talons will make quite certain) but the falcon itself is unharmed, and will unfold its wings and fly on.

Mike George is our regular contributor on wildlife and the countryside in France. He is a geologist and naturalist, living in the Jurassic area of the Charente urban living and will nest on a cathedral, a high chimney, even an electricity pylon, if it can be certain it will be undisturbed. Much smaller - only slightly larger than a blackbird - is the Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) (Fr: Faucon crécerelle). This neat bird is often to be seen perching on telegraph poles and electricity lines. It has a reddish back and spotted breast, long pointed wings and a long tail in flight, and has the habit of hovering, head into wind, rapidly beating its wings, a habit which gives it the alternative English name of Windhover. Its prey is normally sought on the ground.

Falcons are the fighter-planes of the raptor world. They are built for speed, with

The Peregrine will nest in strange places. By choice a cliff-dweller, it has adapted to

The other falcons you may see are the tiny Merlin (Falco columbarius) (Fr: Faucon émerillon) and the slightly larger Hobby (Falco subbuteo) (Fr: Faucon hobereau). If the specific name subbuteo seems familiar to you, it is because Peter Adolph, the man who invented table-football, wanted to market the game under the name “Hobby” but the authorities refused to grant a trademark. As an ornithologist, he used the Latin name of the Hobby instead (subbuteo = smaller than a Buzzard).

The Accipiters

The Accipiters are far more leisurely hunters. The word derivs from the Latin accipiter, a generic term for birds of prey. They may make the odd pounce from ambush, but usually they sail the skies looking for something of a size they can tackle, and then swoop down rapidly to grab it. The wings of the Accipiters are long and wide, with rounded ends fringed by the spread-out primary feathers. This enables them to ride on even tiny thermal currents in the air, and in suitable conditions to soar to considerable heights.

The Buzzard (Buteo buteo) (Fr: Buse variable) is the most easily recognised. These very large birds, shades of brown in colour, are usually seen circling serenely, on their broad round-ended wings, at some height above open areas, looking for lunch. If they see something likely, they will swoop down to try to catch it. Perched in a tree or on a haybale they seem impossibly large, and will often stare unwinkingly at you over a prominent yellow beak before taking flight in a rather untidy and heavy way. Thus, it is something of a surprise to hear their call. You will hear a faint mew, like a lost kitten, and spend ages wondering what caused it until you realise there is a pair of buzzards circling above you talking to each other.

Normally these birds are relatively solitary, but when the prey is plentiful, they can collect in surprising numbers. I have seen a freshly-reaped corn-field in which there was a buzzard on every other straw-bale. There must have been a dozen buzzards sitting, waiting hopefully for a mouse to scuttle out.

There are other Buzzards that may be seen, the Booted Buzzard (Buteo logopus) (Fr: Buse pattue) and the Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus) (Fr: Bondrée apivore).

A bird of similar size but very different appearance is the Harrier. There are two you may see, the Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) (Fr: Busard Saint-Martin) and the Montagu’s Harrier (Circus pygarus) (Fr: Busard cendré). In summer the males are white, with black wing-tips, while the females are brown with a white bar on the back just above the tail. Telling the two apart is not easy; the Montagu’s male has a black bar along the white of each wing, and the wings in flight tend to be rather more tapering. These birds fly fairly low across open land, and males may be mistaken at first glance for a large seagull. There is a third harrier, the Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) (Fr: Busard des roseaux) which is reddish on the body and is restricted to marshy areas; you may see this in the Marais.

If you look up and see a large circling bird that looks like a bird of prey with long, narrow wings, pointed rather more than other accipiters, and a wedge-shaped, forked tail, you are almost certainly looking at a kite. The commoner is the Black Kite (Milvus migrans) (Fr: Milan noir), the other is the Red Kite (Milvus milvus) (Fr: Milan royal). The rule of thumb to tell them apart if you can only see the profile against a bright sky (and that is how one usually sees them) is that the fork in the tail is much deeper in the Red Kite. It used to be said that the Red Kite lived east of the Charente and was rarely seen here, but I have seen one hunting right outside my front door, and a stirring sight it was!

The Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) (Fr: Épervier d’Europe) is slightly larger than the kestrel and is very different in appearance, having shorter rounded wings, though still a long tail. Its back is dark (slate-grey in the male) and the breast is barred. It behaves a bit like a falcon, and will “stoop” or drop like a stone at speed on its prey, which it may even take in flight. I have seen a Sparrowhawk dive onto a Woodpigeon and bear it to the ground. This is exceptional; normally they will only take smaller prey. In this case, the pigeon freed itself and flew off at speed, with the Sparrowhawk in close pursuit.

Similar in appearance, but quite a bit larger, is the Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) (Fr: Autour des palombes). It has the rounded, broadish wings of the Sparrowhawk, but it is grey, with heavy dark barring on the breast and underparts. This bird preys extensively on other birds (hence the reference to palombes – wood-pigeons – in its French name). Its talons are easily large enough to take a bird of that size. I am told it can even aspire to taking a young hare! Male and female are similar, but the iris of the male’s eye is a fierce red, growing darker and fiercer with age, while that of the female is yellow.

There are a few eagles that may pass over, but the only one you are likely to see (since it can nest in this part of France) is the Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus) (Fr: Circaête Jean-le-Blanc). This magnificent bird measures almost 2 metres from wingtip to wingtip, but curiously its favoured food is snakes. It prefers non-venomous varieties (who wouldn’t!) and will settle for lizards and slow-worms as well.

There are a few other birds of prey that may be seen in the region, but they are much rarer, and probably off course. You are in twitcher territory here!

Books to help

The excellent book “Guide des Oiseaux de Poitou-Charentes et Vendée” is a great help, well illustrated with easily understood captions. It even lists the extreme rarities for the dedicated seeker. Recently a Dutch book has been translated into French, and may be purchased under the title, “Rapaces Diurnes & Nocturnes D’Europe”. The illustrations, all painted by a highly skilled bird artist, including many profiles of the birds in flight, are stunning, though the French text is rather more demanding.