#sharp talons

Common buzzards have incredible eyesight—spotting prey from hundreds of meters up, they’re the sky’s sharpest detectives. No mouse can hide!

Steller’s sea eagles sport a wingspan up to 2.5 meters—big enough to cast a shadow that could scare fish into hiding. Nature’s heavyweight champion!

Common buzzards often call while soaring—letting out a high-pitched “mew” that echoes across the countryside. If you hear a cat overhead… look up.

It showed up over the weekend and harassed me into giving it some of the tuna I was eating. I’ve been checking through our collected research and I can’t find any avian that matches; it almost seems like it’s someone’s pet exotic import because it was very friendly and seemed well-fed, but there were no ‘Missing!’ posters around and it did not have a leg band. Definitely not native to the Maryland area, I know that much. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to capture it for further study as there is a blanket ban on bringing animals indoors after the last incident involving weird fat stripe-birds roosting in our chimney, so these pictures are all I have to go on. Hopefully whoever introduced it to the area is able to recapture it soon because it definitely looks like a predator bird and introduced species wreak havoc on local ecosystems. Any leads are greatly appreciated!