Sparrowhawk

[thespade08]

Came home to find this on the lawn with its prey.

[thespade08]

[Carol]

Shame, they got to eat though.  That doesn't look like a sparrowhawk, more like a buzzard from the back.  Could be wrong though, I often am.   :'( :'(

[lorna]

I agree nature can be cruel but as Carol said they have got to eat. Fantastic photo, thanks for sharing.

[Robert_Brenchley]

That looks like a big female sparrowhawk; it's certainly not a buzzard. The only other thing it really could be is a goshawk, and I can't really see those hunting gardens.

[thespade08]

Yes robert it  is a female sparrowhawk  :)

[Carol]

I agree it is a female, its just she looks different to my daily visitor.    good pics.

[jasmine]

Fantastic photos.Def Sparrow hawk to small for buzzard.I used to think nature was cruel,i do a lot of bird watching and over the years iv come to realise that with nature it has a fifty fifty chance.IE an eagle gowning in for the kill with a rabbit. The rabbit can move all ways and the eagle can only move forward so even though it looks unfair birds can only move forward.only bird to fly backwars i think is the humming bird.sorry for waffling. Birds are my passion Jasmine

[Carol]

Welcome to the site Jasmine.  I am a passionate bird watcher as well.  In fact they eat before me on a morning and I seem to feed them all day as well.  I get sad when birds are taken from my garden by the sparrowhawk for a spell it seemed to be the goldfinches she was taking.  I would be really upset if she took some of my tame blackbirds.  But hey, it is nature I suppose.  Enjoy the site, its quite friendly most of the time.

;D ;D

[tricia]

I was spellbound yesterday when a sparrowhawk landed on the bird bath not 4 metres from where I was sitting. I didn't dare to move to get my camera but I was able to get a good close-up view through my binoculars. It was a first for me and since I have 12 bird feeders maybe I shall get to see it again! I think it must have been a juvenile as it was less than a foot tall.

Tricia

[DAVIESFOZZIE]

It amazes me that even in this educated society we still think of nature as being cruel remember The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin. This pointed out that only the fitest and strongest would survive. But all creatures have to feed such as ourselves, a chicken or a piece of beef etc. The only difference is that we have the courage to grow our own vegetables but not to kill our own meat. I think this gives the animals a distinct moral advantage as they ony kill to survive but as a recent report reveals we waste a massive proportion of what we grow or slaugther.

[redimp]

It amazes me that even in this educated society we still think of nature as being cruel remember The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin. This pointed out that only the fitest and strongest would survive. But all creatures have to feed such as ourselves, a chicken or a piece of beef etc. The only difference is that we have the courage to grow our own vegetables but not to kill our own meat. I think this gives the animals a distinct moral advantage as they ony kill to survive but as a recent report reveals we waste a massive proportion of what we grow or slaugther.

I am a vegetarian on the principle that you should only eat meat if you are prepared to kill it yourself - hunting, not factory farming.  I can't, so I don't!

[Julia]

Definitely a Sparrow hawk, one took a sparrow from a tree in our garden last year.  A few days later came down for a drink.  Note extra long middle toe (2nd pic).  Males are smaller than females and more blue/grey.  Sometimes an adult female will accidentally kill a young male, about pigeon size before it is fully grown. (Oops!).

[claretel]

Beautiful photos. As one who blurs all she sees, I am quite jealous! We had a sparrowhawk crash into marks and spencers in wimbledon with a small bird, which in the confusion got away. I felt quite sorry for the sparrowhawk.

[Robert_Brenchley]

They once had a sparrowhawk crash through a window at the University Museum of Natural History in Oxford. It lay dead inside, with a blackbird dead outside. Last time I was there they still had the stuffed remains on display.

[OllieC]

This pointed out that only the fitest and strongest would survive.

I'm sorry, this isn't what Darwin said or what he meant! Also, Darwin never actually used the phrase "Survival of the fittest". His publicist said that to try to explain his work to the masses. It was a fairly poor description of his findings.

Darwin actually pointed out that those most able to reproduce will survive. You might be very very strong, but have no reproductive organs. This would make you fairly unlikely to reproduce.

His work was perverted by the Nazis as justification for their actions, and should be misquoted with caution.

[Suzanne]

Lovely piccy of the sparrowhawk, once they set to down to a meal they don't seem to be phased by anything. The one that patrols our hedge and back garden killed a dove and even though I went out to sort the washing out and then saw it, it looked at me and then just carried on dismembering it's dinner. Mind you it pobably worked out that I am not a fast mover and it would have plenty of time to get away if it needed to.

[Suzanne]

Came home tonight - Sparrowhawk had another Dove, I have just spent the last 15 minutes cleaning feathers and "bits" from the lawn. ugh.

[Robert_Brenchley]

The other side of it is that if nothing ate the doves, there would be so many of them we wouldn't have any crops left.

[honeybee]

Wonderful pictures.
What a great opportunity to see a sparrowhawk up so close.

[Lee Marshall]

We have had a pair of sparrow hawks nesting in a pine in front of the house this year and I can hear the youngsters screaming for food as I type this note.  They have all left the nest but are sat around the area still being weaned.  The parents just seem to fly into the holes in the tree canopy and find their way to the perched chicks.

We have been lucky to have them so close....not a collared dove left in the area though.