Hunting Sparrowhawk

[fishman65]

This afternoon on heading down to the bird feeders, I became aware of scuffling noises under the bramble patch. Out came a gorgeous female sparrowhawk, who looked as surprised to see me as I her. Sparrowhawks will pursue prey through dense vegetation, their relatively shorter wings and longer tail are evidence of the natural selection that facilitates this method of hunting.

After spotting me she swept up and over the neighbour's fence like a guided missile. A blackbird remained hiding in the brambles and will live to see another dawn. I'm wondering if its the same sparrowhawk who took a collared dove in mid flight two years ago. Though maybe not, two years is a long time for a wild bird.

[Catkins]

How amazing that you saw her! I would be past myself with excitement!

No idea if it could be the same one, I guess it could be as they usually stick with the same hunting grounds.

[fishman65]

Its possible Catkins and yes they do target areas where potential prey gather i.e bird feeders. I was excited too and had mixed feelings over the blackbird getting away, the sparrowhawk has to eat too of course.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I opened this thread thinking it was about the David Eddings books since the main character in two trilogys is called Sparhawk!

Lovely birds but mixed feelings too as I like their prey. I love seeing sparrows and blackbirds in the garden. Reckon you made a friend in that one!

I've never seen one. We have a field behind the houses across the road and you often see circling birds with founder tipped wings. I've always assumed they were kestrels but they could be sparrowhawks.

A rare lucky spot for you. Many years ago my mum saw a big bird lifting off with something blackbirds sized. Never saw it again though. But many times the sparrow hordes would panic chirp and flee for some reason.

[fishman65]

I opened this thread thinking it was about the David Eddings books since the main character in two trilogys is called Sparhawk!

Lovely birds but mixed feelings too as I like their prey. I love seeing sparrows and blackbirds in the garden. Reckon you made a friend in that one!

I've never seen one. We have a field behind the houses across the road and you often see circling birds with founder tipped wings. I've always assumed they were kestrels but they could be sparrowhawks.

A rare lucky spot for you. Many years ago my mum saw a big bird lifting off with something blackbirds sized. Never saw it again though. But many times the sparrow hordes would panic chirp and flee for sone reason.

I'm afraid I've not heard of those books Terry, what kind of genre are they?

You've almost certainly seen a sparrowhawk Terry, they've become more widespread in recent decades. Largely due to the banning of certain agricultural chemicals like DDT, along with education and breeding programmes. In fact almost all raptors have increased. Buzzards, Red Kites and the Sparrowhawk have all done so. Even Peregrines are now seen as far east as Norfolk. Only 30 years ago or so, you'd have needed to head west and north. We had a pair of Peregrines nest and rear young on our local church last year. The circling birds with rounder wing tips sound like Buzzards, if they're a lot bigger than kestrels then almost certainly Buzzards.

Kestrels will have pointed wings, a speckled breast and dark brown/black eyes. The female is chestnut brown on her back and wings with black barring. The male will have a grey head and tail. Whereas Sparrowhawks have rounded wings, the female a creamy-white breast with horizontal barring, and yellow eyes. The male Sparrowhawk is notably smaller with reddish barring on the breast.

Kestrels use hovering as their primary hunting method. Sparrowhawks use ambush tactics, flying low and fast alongside a hedge or fence before swooping over to surprise prey. I've been a bird lover since a small child. One of my best sights was seeing Golden Eagles nesting in the Lake District, or Gannets on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands.

[MyNameIsTerry]

If you like The Witcher you will like the books of David Eddings such as the Sparhawk ones. They've been around a few decades. Fantasy books which include the influence, and appearance, of some of the gods. Some monsters, waring nations, adventure questing by Sparhawk and other nights of different orders.

I've read other Eddings books and they are all good. Same genre as LOTR.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Wow Golden Eagles. I would love to see one.

Ever been to bird sanctuaries and held one? You don't realise how deadly those claws are. I've seen them but not held one. It's enough when the rainbow lorakeets land on you at Twycross Zoo and squabble over the pot of nectar you can buy on the way in. You would love that.

When I was small my brother had a mate around the corner who kept some. I can't remember what they were. Maybe kestrels.

A couple of years back I watched a peregrine cam on top of a church. I posted it on here somewhere. They were nice to watch.

Over the field they are too high up to make out but we're hovering and circling. And dark. They didn't look big enough to be buzzards. We don't see them near me but if I head out a mile into open land and farmers fields we do start to see them. Dad used to see them loads as he was a landscape gardener so around farmland a lot. My GF sees them not far from her area as they have started getting closer to that end of the city.

Once we went to Bridgemere Garden Centre and saw a red kite flying in the fields next door. Never seen one before. Beautiful.

I like birds. It's nice sitting outside in the summer watching them go about their business. Watching them bathing (robins do it at least twice a day) or feeding their young. Watching the young have their first soil bath and then go mad when they discover water. We have a pond and waterfall which my dad built. They love the waterfall bowl.

Sadly we get few now. New neighbours with lots of cats we suspect being the problem. We always had 15-20 sparrows in one hedge and some in the other. At least Robins and Jenny Wrens still seem to visit.

I remember a few years back we had peregrines on top of the BT building. Stupid council wanted to shift them. A preservation group formed to stop it and pointed out all those pigeons they moan about posturing the city centre would be kept in check by the peregrines. They won and they stayed. Lovely seeing them over the city centre.

[fishman65]

Another fantasy genre series of books I've read are 'The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant' by Stephen Donaldson. This was early 80s when I was in my teens but he's since written more that I've not read. Very complex but compelling.

I actually flew a kestrel when I was a teenager. A guy across the road had a buzzard, my Mum suggested letting him get me a kestrel chick. If I'm honest I was never happy with the situation, he got that kestrel chick within about three days. And even though he said it was aviary bred, I still don't believe it. I think it was taken from the wild. My Mum got on really well with him (that's another story), but I felt press ganged into it. So yes I had her sitting on my glove and know how it feels when those talons dig into your thumb. It hurts!! All I could do was wait for her to release, a mouse or vole wouldn't stand a chance.

We have loads of red kites down here in Northamptonshire. There was a breeding programme at Rockingham Forest and another in Oxfordshire. To think that as recently as the mid 90s you would have needed to go to a small area in mid Wales to see one. Now seeing one barely raises a comment, other than them being such graceful fliers.

I love watching birds too. Robins are great and so tame, one flew right past my head the other day. I've got a robin nest box that they built a nest in last year but didn't use. They build trial ones and mine must have been one of their experiments. However the box in the ash tree gets used every year by blue tits.

I've been to Twycross but not since about 2000.

[Darksky]

I love raptors Fish. Nothing annoys me more when I see them being poisoned or shot just because they ‘interfere’ with human lives.

around here we have Buzzards. I just love to see them riding the thermals in the blue sky. Sometimes I see Rooks chasing them off and dive bombing them. But to hear that haunting call in the silence is fabulous.

[fishman65]

I love raptors Fish. Nothing annoys me more when I see them being poisoned or shot just because they ‘interfere’ with human lives.

around here we have Buzzards. I just love to see them riding the thermals in the blue sky. Sometimes I see Rooks chasing them off and dive bombing them. But to hear that haunting call in the silence is fabulous.

Beautiful aren't they Darksky. Buzzards tolerate being mobbed by members of the crow family/gulls, but can sometimes roll on their backs to present their talons if they do get fed up with it.

You're right, there's nothing worse than persecution of any birds. But lacing carcasses with poison has to be the worst activity of all, its just so indiscriminate.