Rough-legged Buzzard photography

November – March

Rough-legged Buzzard photography

November – March

When: 1:st November – 10:th March

Price: 2.850 SEK/ person

Rough-legged Buzzard

Rough-legged Buzzard photography

Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) is not a rare winter bird in Sweden, although they vary a great deal in numbers between years, but they are generally NOT easy to approach. That´s why we have created a Buzzard-restaurant, where Rough-legged Buzzards come and feed on a regular basis. In front there´s an old wooden haybarn, that´s been standing there for more than a hundred years. We converted the barn into a photo-hide where 3 persons can sit comfortably and study/ film/ photograph the birds at close range.

The Rough-legged Buzzard is a beautiful raptor with a contrasting plumage of creamy white and buffy parts, darker back and belly and a black and white tail. Individuals vary a lot in coloration, also with age. The R-L Buzzards are quite ”showy” raptors with an own ”modus operandi”, they often raise their wings (a bit like a butterfly) to scare away corvids from their food, they also often appear and reappear several times a day on the feeding station. That means they provide lots of interesting photographic opportunities. They usually come 25 meters from the hide to perches set up in different angles, but can also appear even closer.

The wooden hide (room) is 4×3 meters big and equipped with comfortable easy chairs, a (dry) loo and a gas heater. Three holes for camera lenses or telescopes are placed beneath the front window reaching horizontally from corner to corner. You shoot with your lens sticking out but fit in a dark fabric with elastic straps around the lens. You fix your gimbal/ tripod head to the solid, wooden shelf under the window. With the camera in position you scan the scene through the window with a panoramic view.

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Rough-legged Buzzard photography

Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) is not a rare winter bird in Sweden, although they vary a great deal in numbers between years, but they are generally NOT easy to approach. That´s why we have created a Buzzard-restaurant, where Rough-legged Buzzards come and feed on a regular basis. In front there´s an old wooden haybarn, that´s been standing there for more than a hundred years. We converted the barn into a photo-hide where 3 persons can sit comfortably and study/ film/ photograph the birds at close range.

The Rough-legged Buzzard is a beautiful raptor with a contrasting plumage of creamy white and buffy parts, darker back and belly and a black and white tail. Individuals vary a lot in coloration, also with age. The R-L Buzzards are quite ”showy” raptors with an own ”modus operandi”, they often raise their wings (a bit like a butterfly) to scare away corvids from their food, they also often appear and reappear several times a day on the feeding station. That means they provide lots of interesting photographic opportunities. They usually come 25 meters from the hide to perches set up in different angles, but can also appear even closer.

The wooden hide (room) is 4×3 meters big and equipped with comfortable easy chairs, a (dry) loo and a gas heater. Three holes for camera lenses or telescopes are placed beneath the front window reaching horizontally from corner to corner. You shoot with your lens sticking out but fit in a dark fabric with elastic straps around the lens. You fix your gimbal/ tripod head to the solid, wooden shelf under the window. With the camera in position you scan the scene through the window with a panoramic view.

Practical info

Season: 1.st November – 10:th March

Maximum 3 persons.

Included: Guidance to the hide. Instructions and installation. You are expected to find your way back home from the hide on your own after the session ends.

The hide is a ”no shoes-area” (to avoid snow and water) with warm, woolen slippers to use inside. The hide is equipped with comfortable chairs, a loo, a heater, candles, warm blankets, sheepskins and a logbook to read and write in. Recommended lenses: 300-600 mm. The site offers a very good depth of view meaning you could have use for maximum magnification, but the Buzzards usually come closer. A zoom-lense gives you more flexibility. It’s not a bad idea to bring both.

To bring: Camera, tripod-heads/ Gimbal (no use for tripod), binoculars, flashlight/ headlight (essential), personal water bottle, warm clothes, waterproof boots. Bring your own packed lunch to last the entire day. A gas stove is available for making tea and coffee.

Price

2.850 SEK/person & session

When? How? For whom?

We guide you out to the hide. Walking distance is about 300 meters. We need to arrive before it gets light and you need to stay in the hide til dusk or til we pick you up. To exit the hide in daylight is strictly forbidden. For the dedicated photographer or for the those who want to experience these beautiful birds of prey. The hide is designed for a maximum of 3 persons.

Where?

The Buzzard haybarn hide lies in the open farmlands of the Black River Valley in Västmanland. A distant road is barely within view, the site is a bit beyond villages and farmsteads with just a small tractor-track leading past and ends at the birch forest. The risk for human disturbance is not non-existing – we are after all in a populated area – but we put a lot of effort into communicating with the landowners, hunters and neighbours and always send out info on sms to them when we have people in the hide.

How to get a good session!

It’s important how YOU behave!

Arrive early to the hide, preferably just before the break of dawn. Be aware that your own behaviour is crucial for the outcome of the session. Slow movements with the camera no talking, just whisper, and the patience to wait for the first Buzzard to start eating are good advice. The Buzzards are not quite as touchy as the Eagles, but it´s still very important to be still and quiet during the time spent in the hide.

Did you know that...

The Rough-legged Buzzard breed in the mountains and taiga of the north of Scandinavia, Russia and parts of northern North America. The swedish population is estimated to 3.000 pairs and largely depends on the lemming and vole populations in the breeding areas. Poor years they might not breed at all, good years they compensate by raising more offspring. The nest is usually placed in a steep rock (not necessarily the most impressive ones), in an old pine tree or sometimes even on the bare ground, but prefers rocky habitats. The female lays between 1 and 7 eggs, mostly 3-5. They can live to 19 years of age in the wild, although a female in a zoo in Idaho lived to 25. Buzzard mortality is often human inflicted like collisions with power-lines, wind farms, buildings, vehicles or illegal hunting/ poisoning. Not very common in Sweden though. In winter they mainly feed on rodents in open grasslands and can also take to carcasses and roadkills. Buzzards migrate south mainly during october when they can start to set up winter territories, that they stay very true to during a winter and sometimes several years. The first two winter-seasons we fed them here – 2016-2018 – we believe one bird – a female – came to the food regularly throughout the winters. From mid-late March they start to become more independent and will start to migrate northwards in April.

Juvenile or adult?

Rough-legged Buzzards vary a lot in plumage, are quite possible to identify to age and sex and hence, often to individual. Young ones having a creamy white ground color to the plumage, head and breast especially and underwing coverts without a lot of darker spots. The tail is white with one broad, black terminal band. The belly is dark brown to almost black, in strong contrast to the pale breast. Older Rough-legs have a darker, more complex plumage with darker head and breast, often with a pale breast-band, similar to Common Buzzard. The underwings are darker with darker markings on coverts, the tail often have a 2:nd thinner black subterminal tailband inside the broader terminal band. Sexes are also sometimes possible to separate, anyhow an impressive and beautiful raptor to view and photograph. Welcome to enjoy it!