Bird of the Year - honey buzzard

There are two types of buzzards in Estonia. Our most numerous hawk, the common buzzard, can often been seen loudly circling in the sky or sitting on posts watching next to the road, stalking for mice. Although most of the common buzzards leave in the autumn, some of them stay also in the winter. The rough-legged hawk, a species closely related to the buzzards, is quite similar to the common buzzard but it can be met only wintering or in passing. The European honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus) has a special diet among hawks - it looks for wasp and bumble-bee nests and eats the maggots of these insects. Because of this it arrives here in late spring and leaves already at the end of summer. The Estonian Ornithological Society picks the Bird of the Year since 1995.