Sparrow hawk In my garden.

[team tractor]

My wife sent me this picture. She said it’s sat there eating a blackbird. 

Quiet a rare treat. 

Edited September 18, 2019 by team tractor

[Pigeon Shredder.]

Which was the rare treat.

What the Sparrow Hawk or his dinner 🤔.

 

[team tractor]

16 minutes ago, Pigeon Shredder. said:

Which was the rare treat.

What the Sparrow Hawk or his dinner 🤔.

 

I haven’t seen many around here

[twenty]

They are perfect little hunters are they not, love them or hate them, they have devastating agility on the wing, We have a "Hedge bandit", (Sparrowhawk), that regularly patrols the local gardens, the bird feeders are perfect ambush areas, I have witnessed two or three songbirds struck and killed in my garden, they were just minding their own business on the feeders or the lawn and bang, curtains...........that's nature.

Had one attack our canary when it was out in the garden, the hawk slammed into the cage and its talons were between the bars as it grasped at the canary...................poor little chap was quiet for a few days before he got his singing voice back.

[Pigeon Shredder.]

1 hour ago, team tractor said:

I haven’t seen many around here

We have them all the time, come in at a great rate of knots over the hedgerows and were taking the birds off the feeders, so l moved the feeders to a more secluded/protected spot to give them a better chance, and it’s definitely helped, but nature is nature so a few still get taken.

You know when ones about as the birds suddenly go deadly quiet and nothing moves in the hedges or trees, and sure enough there he is sitting high up in the trees next door waiting for his chance.

Beautiful birds doing what they do best, but you still feel sorry for their prey.

 

[moondoggy]

They nest in our garden. Don’t half clobber the pigeon population.

[London Best]

Two days ago I watched a buzzard sitting in my garden. At one time I had to travel at least 100 miles to see a buzzard. For about five years now there has been a nest 200 yards from my sofa.

[team tractor]

We used to have loads of kestrels but it’s just buzzards now . Even the buzzards are getting a bit low. 

[yates]

Ironic that you should post this as I noticed one sat on my bird feeders yesterday evening. It’s the first time I have seen one in my garden. Pity about the remains of the goldfinch that I found on the ground beneath it. I suppose when you’re feeding the prey it’s inevitable that the hunter will move in 

[Loki]

Wretched things - beautiful though nature is - hitting the sparrows hard in my yard.

Over the neighburs fence, into the Bay Tree and out clutching one - 2 blinks of an eye and gone.

This one was more brown than slate grey.

[welsh1]

Our local Sparrow Hawk chases the birds up our row of houses, but just before the end it dips through between the last two houses and catches the birds that try to swing round the houses at the end, must be a big shock to them to realize the killer that was behind you is now  coming at a huge rate of knots from the side and you don't have time to turn.

We also have a Peregrine that takes the racing pigeons from 2 doors up, i watched it drop from the sky and hit a pigeon so hard it virtually severed it's head, the blood spatter just missed me on my porch.
Nature's amazing.

[Mice!]

As much as i like feeding the birds and watching them come and go I still enjoy seeing the spars when they shoot through my garden, sometimes taking something, what i don't like is magpies and squirrels emptying the nests of eggs and chicks.

[fruity]

Have one visiting my garden when he fancies a snack 

[steve_b_wales]

Out in Egypt these past two weeks, and I was lucky to see a Sparrow Hawk swoop down on a Siskin while it was on the grass. It's a pity I didn't have a camera to hand though. There are a few Sparrow Hawks flying around the hotel grounds, and they are killing many of the feral pigeons that are there.

[martinj]

On ‎19‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 17:26, Loki said:

Wretched things - beautiful though nature is - hitting the sparrows hard in my yard.

Over the neighburs fence, into the Bay Tree and out clutching one - 2 blinks of an eye and gone.

This one was more brown than slate grey.

The females are brown, males are grey, They are munching their way through the collared dove population round here in NE Hampshire

[old'un]

On 25/09/2019 at 18:22, Mice! said:

As much as i like feeding the birds and watching them come and go I still enjoy seeing the spars when they shoot through my garden, sometimes taking something, what i don't like is magpies and squirrels emptying the nests of eggs and chicks.

Sparrow hawks kill more song birds than squirrels and magpies, they need some control, same as buzzards, far to many.

[Mice!]

56 minutes ago, old'un said:

Sparrow hawks kill more song birds than squirrels and magpies, they need some control, same as buzzards, far to many.

I somehow doubt that, i have hammered the squirrels near me, unfortunately not the magpies but it's made a massive difference to the bird population locally, i can easily see a dozen magpies a day without really looking, a sparrow hawk is an occasional treat, the biggest control being winter and available prey, squirrels and magpies eat lots of other thing besides eggs and chicks so aren't as easily managed.

[old'un]

5 minutes ago, Mice! said:

I somehow doubt that, i have hammered the squirrels near me, unfortunately not the magpies but it's made a massive difference to the bird population locally, i can easily see a dozen magpies a day without really looking, a sparrow hawk is an occasional treat, the biggest control being winter and available prey, squirrels and magpies eat lots of other thing besides eggs and chicks so aren't as easily managed.

The Sparrowhawk takes birds for 365 days a year, a breeding pair needs to kill at least half a dozen small bird a day during this period and will take adult birds, chicks off the nest and young (fledged) birds.

Over a whole year a successful breeding pair of Sparowhawks could account for 55 kg (121 pounds) This is equivalent to about 2200 House Sparrows, or 600 Blackbirds, or 110 Wood Pigeons.

At least with the magpie and squirrel the adult birds survive and may try to breed again the same year or next.

[Mice!]

32 minutes ago, old'un said:

The Sparrowhawk takes birds for 365 days a year, a breeding pair needs to kill at least half a dozen small bird a day during this period and will take adult birds, chicks off the nest and young (fledged) birds.

Over a whole year a successful breeding pair of Sparowhawks could account for 55 kg (121 pounds) This is equivalent to about 2200 House Sparrows, or 600 Blackbirds, or 110 Wood Pigeons.

At least with the magpie and squirrel the adult birds survive and may try to breed again the same year or next.

Wont argue with any of that, but how many broods don't hatch or fledge because a magpie or squirrel comes along, I'm getting birds in my garden that i never used to including the odd sparrow hawk, and there are certainly plenty of pigeons to go around.

[old'un]

1 hour ago, Mice! said:

Wont argue with any of that, but how many broods don't hatch or fledge because a magpie or squirrel comes along, I'm getting birds in my garden that i never used to including the odd sparrow hawk, and there are certainly plenty of pigeons to go around.

Agreed the magpie and squirrel will impact on bird numbers and I do my bit to keep numbers down with the air rifle and a Larsen, all I am saying is the Sparrowhawk takes far more birds in a year then the other two.

You may not have many around your area but we get spars visiting our garden at least a couple of times a day.

[Yellow Bear]

17 minutes ago, old'un said:

Agreed the magpie and squirrel will impact on bird numbers and I do my bit to keep numbers down with the air rifle and a Larsen, all I am saying is the Sparrowhawk takes far more birds in a year then the other two.

You may not have many around your area but we get spars visiting our garden at least a couple of times a day.

They seem to become a bird of the mature suburban gardens with the rows of semis acting like hedgerows.

[Mice!]

1 hour ago, Yellow Bear said:

They seem to become a bird of the mature suburban gardens with the rows of semis acting like hedgerows.

Probably because we feed there quarry.

great when you happen to look out and see one dart through the garden.

[Walker570]

I have a pair which work my 10 cre wood and had one try it on with a magpie the other day. They had a standing argument only about 8ft from where I was sitting. The maggie eventually flew away with the hawk in chase, did not see the result.  I keep all maggies and tree rats to the absolute minimum in this wood and I have a huge population of all sorts of small birds, with tree creepers and nuthatches reappearing after the sorting of the tree rats.   I don't see the sparrow hawk doing much damage to be honest.  Certainly numbers of house sparrows have built up and I have put up nest boxes for them now on the end of my workshop/store.

[Agriv8]

One likes to sit on our roof and watch for a pigeon looking the wrong way we are at least 7 bird tables can be seen from up there.  had the pigeon feathers scattered around the garden.

they are impressive to watch in attack mode 

[old'un]

12 hours ago, Agriv8 said:

One likes to sit on our roof and watch for a pigeon looking the wrong way we are at least 7 bird tables can be seen from up there.  had the pigeon feathers scattered around the garden.

they are impressive to watch in attack mode 

So are magpies but they seem to get all the bad press.