The recovery of some predator species in recent decades has intensified conflicts between humans and predators. To mitigate these conflicts, knowledge of predator-prey relationships is needed. The aim of this study was to estimate the predation rate of common buzzards Buteo buteo on young brown hares Lepus europaeus and to compare the magnitude of this predation between two areas that differ in the type of agricultural landscape, i.e. the size of crop fields. In the years 2005–2014, the composition of buzzard diet was studied in western Poland by analysing pellets and prey remains of nestlings and adult birds (7971 prey items identified) and estimating the abundance of buzzards (searching for and observing their nests) and hares (spotlight counts) in two adjacent areas (75 km² in total) with small and large fields. The diet of common buzzards was dominated by common voles Microtus arvalis, and the frequency of hares ranged from 1.1% of prey items in the nestling diet to 0.2% in the diet of post-breeding individuals. The total number of hares consumed by buzzards during the spring-summer season in the whole study area amounted to 2.94 per km², which is equal to 7.8–15.3% of the young hares born per km². However, the predation rate estimated based on the nestling food was 2.6 times lower in small fields than in large fields. Thus, this study suggests that reducing buzzard predation on young hares can be achieved by habitat management, i.e. the creation of agricultural landscapes with numerous field boundaries.

近几十年来，一些捕食者物种的恢复加剧了人类与捕食者之间的冲突。为了缓解这些冲突，需要了解捕食者与被捕食者之间的关系。本研究的目的是估计普通秃鹰Buteo buteo对幼年棕色野兔Lepus europaeus的捕食率，并比较农业景观类型（即农田大小）不同的两个地区之间的捕食程度。2005-2014 年，通过分析雏鸟和成年鸟类的颗粒和猎物残骸（确定了 7971 种猎物）并估计秃鹰（搜索和观察它们的巢穴）和野兔的丰度，在波兰西部研究了秃鹰的饮食成分（聚光灯计数）两个相邻区域（总共75 km ^{2 ），有小田地和大田地。}普通鵟的饮食以普通田鼠田鼠为主，野兔的出现频率从雏鸟饮食中猎物的1.1%到繁殖后个体饮食中的0.2%不等。全研究区春夏季节秃鹰捕食野兔总数为2.94只/km ²，相当于每km ²出生仔兔数的7.8%~15.3% 。然而，根据雏鸟食物估计的捕食率在小田地中比在大田地中低2.6倍。因此，这项研究表明，减少秃鹰对幼兔的捕食可以通过栖息地管理来实现，即创造具有众多田野边界的农业景观。