What a surprise

[bonefish]

That is a big kill for a Sparrow Hawk, usually small birds and insects beetles and the like.

 

Saw some thing the other day I had not seen before four or possibly five jays in the same small tree fighting like hell among them selves very much like magpies. Always thought of them as solitary birds.

Often see Sparrowhawks take Stock Doves & in particular Collared Doves in my back garden, never seen one take anything smaller than a blackbird though, maybe the y should be re-named Pigeonhawks or something

[ayjay]

so I left them to sort it out, the hawk with its wings spread covering its prey.

 

That's known as "mantling"

 

As others have said it's not that unusual for a Sprawk to take a pigeon, a female is considerably bigger than a male and can manage a Wood pigeon, a male could kill one but couldn't carry it. It's thought that the size difference (which is common in raptors) allows them to target different prey items, a useful strategy when feeding young if there are shortages of some prey items.

 

We get fairly regular visits and they take all sizes of birds in our garden from Blue tits to Pigeons, with the smaller species the only thing you usually know about it is a scattering of feathers on the grass where the initial strike is made.

[bonefish]

That's known as "mantling"

Thats where the word mantlepiece comes from

[JV44]

They are taking the collared doves from in and around my garden fairly regularly................probably because they have eaten all the poor sparrows...rarely see more than 4 now, used to be a big flock of 50 or more. Most of the other visitors seem to have gone as well.

 

I have mixed feelings about Sparrow Hawks..

 

Den

Den they often take collared doves in my garden but when they have and i have been lucky enough to see it the culprit has allways been the female Sparrow Hawk.

Loads of Finchs,Woodpeckers,Blue tits,Great tits,Blackbirds,Robins etc all easy enough prey for the Sparrow Hawks but not many Sparrows,Starlings or Thrush around, Now as they cant just be eating only these maybe there is another reason ie slug pellets regarding the Thrush.

Here like many places there used to be massive flocks of Starlings when i was a kid but the only place they are found in numbers locally now is on a large area of farm land used for free range pigs ie out in the fields grubbing around getting muddy and the Starlings are there in large numbers,Presume this is due to lack of pesticides due to no arable crops?.

Have heard a few theorys why the Sparrow is in decline but not sure anyone knows for sure.

Went for a days falconry with a mates mate a couple of years ago fling Goshawks against Pheasants at a MOD airbase[The mate is a MOD old bill] and couldnt believe the speed with which the Goshawks hit the Pheasants you could hear the thwack from a long distance away.

We were supposed to go to see him fly his female Golden Eagle against Hares on the airfields after they had cutt the grass in summer but the bloody thing died!! can you believe that something that powerfull croaks it due to a virus affecting the heart i believe.

The guys misses was not impressed as he hadnt long bought her and they aint cheap .

Well done for managing to capture it on camera Medwaygreen they allways leg it as soon as i try to get a picture of them,Love the way they cover there prey with there wings almost like count Dracula.

Steve.

[Alan Stubbs]

Lovely pictures!

 

I was driving across the Britannia Bridge on to Anglesey last week and I had a feeling of being watched through the passenger window as I was crawling in a traffic jam.

 

Taking a quick glance out of the window, I was being watched by a Peregrine keeping station with me. Such an awesome experience I damned nearly drove into the back of the car in front.

 

As for sparrowhawks, the best sight I've seen was with Steve Burke and dear Gerry Castles a couple of years ago, one was chasing a kingfisher the entire length of Wingham's coarse lake - it failed to catch it!

[IanBass]

Again, super pictures, I saw one take a collared dove in our back garden earlier this year, AMAZING!!!!!