What Is A Buzzard?
Buzzard is the correct term for a family of hawks. (ie the European buzzard, Buteo buteo, closely related to the American red tailed hawk). In America, the term is often employed incorrectly to describe vultures. This probably dates back to the arrival of the first English colonists. There are no vultures of any type in England, so these pioneers probably gave the common term “buzzard” to all the soaring figures above the New World.