First Sparrowhawk sighting...
Discussion
I've lived in my present house for 15 years and this is the first time I've seen one. About an hour ago there was a bit of commotion and an injured dove at the bottom of the garden. At first we though the magpies had attacked it, but a few minutes later the Sparrowhawk appears. So that's a nice Sunday dinner for Mr S...
Shame the light wasn't a bit better, but I grabbed a couple of shots with the (now very out of date) D1X and 70-200. Nothing particularly special, but thought I'd share the moment anyway!
Shame the light wasn't a bit better, but I grabbed a couple of shots with the (now very out of date) D1X and 70-200. Nothing particularly special, but thought I'd share the moment anyway!
Had a Sparrow Hawk or similar in the garden a couple of weeks ago. For once I had the camera near at hand - but unfortunately that meant it was just inside the back door. About 25 feet from me and about 6 feet from the hawk that had flown down a path between the house wall and a boundary hedge and landed on the lid of our wheelie bin.
Having spotted the thing out f the corner of my eye I was expecting the resident blackbird, not a hawk. We looked at each other for about, oh, a nanosecond or two and it decided it did not like the look of me and headed back the way it came.
Now to the best of my knowledge the hawks will not often be seen in what I would loosely term a suburban garden in the middle of a housing estate although there are interesting 'wild' areas not far away on the edge of the village. Does that suggest there are now enough of them around that they find the territory rather crowded and feel a need to hunt in more developed habitats?
Having spotted the thing out f the corner of my eye I was expecting the resident blackbird, not a hawk. We looked at each other for about, oh, a nanosecond or two and it decided it did not like the look of me and headed back the way it came.
Now to the best of my knowledge the hawks will not often be seen in what I would loosely term a suburban garden in the middle of a housing estate although there are interesting 'wild' areas not far away on the edge of the village. Does that suggest there are now enough of them around that they find the territory rather crowded and feel a need to hunt in more developed habitats?
I was quite surprised how close it allowed me to get. I managed to get within about 20 feet before it got a bit spooked and dragged its' prey further into the bushes.
There are plenty of small garden birds regularly visiting the gardens around here. With such easy pickings, I do wonder if he's going to be a regular visitor from now on. Kind of got mixed feelings about that!
It would be nice if he'd take out a few magpies, but that's probably too much to ask.
There are plenty of small garden birds regularly visiting the gardens around here. With such easy pickings, I do wonder if he's going to be a regular visitor from now on. Kind of got mixed feelings about that!
It would be nice if he'd take out a few magpies, but that's probably too much to ask.
chevronb37 said:
Funny you should post that. I had an email from my old man yesterday with this photo attached. He said it'd rather scared off the other birds...
Is it the first time he'd seen one in his garden? Maybe there's a glut of sparrowhawks around at the moment?If I'm not mistaken, that's a female. Looks a bit like Harriet Harman...
The other birds around my garden were making a racket when my one was eating his dove. Maybe their days are numbered now there's a local predator like this around.
FasterFreddy said:
chevronb37 said:
Funny you should post that. I had an email from my old man yesterday with this photo attached. He said it'd rather scared off the other birds...
Is it the first time he'd seen one in his garden? Maybe there's a glut of sparrowhawks around at the moment?If I'm not mistaken, that's a female. Looks a bit like Harriet Harman...
The other birds around my garden were making a racket when my one was eating his dove. Maybe their days are numbered now there's a local predator like this around.
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