Question: What is a "buzzard," and are any found in Collier County?
Answer: Buzzard is the correct term for a family of hawks including the European buzzard, Buteo buteo. The word buzzard comes from the Middle English busard, from Old French alteration of buison, from Latin buteon, a buteo or hawk.
In North America, the term is often employed incorrectly to describe vultures. This may date back to the arrival of the first English colonists. There are no vultures in England, so these pioneers probably gave the common term "buzzard" to all of the large soaring birds they saw above the New World.
The following buteos (buzzards) are found in Collier County:
- Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)
- Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus), photo at right
- Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)
- Swainson's Hawk (Buteo swainsoni)
- Short-tailed Hawk (Buteo brachyurus)