salute that sprawk

[seb_seb]

after filling up the seed feeder, i looked up into the sky to see a "woodpigeon"...i would have just walked back inside if it hadnt made that strange noise , a "mew". Quickly and correctly i noticed this "woodpigeon" had more broad rounded wings and was gliding. I identified it to be a female sparrowhawk. I watched it flap-flap-gliding until it was high above my house..but i still had a good view. Shortly it was joined by the much smaller male sparrowhawk. They called and glided next to each other for a few minutes until they soared to high to see...less than specs in the sky. At a last glimpse i saluted them!
It makes me especially happy because walsall has had a bad reputation for being "ugly and dirty" and i can walk into the town centre in 15 minutes.
3 cheers for the sprawks!!:hippy:

[Reader]

Funnily enough I was talking to Monkeyman (Al), on the phone yesterday, when Ros came rushing in to say a Sparrowhawk had just flown over our house. We live one & a half miles from Birmingham city centre in one of the most depressed areas of the city. If you know Sparkhill, you will know what I mean.

Just shows you that these surroundings don't put them off.

[fiacha]

My office is in Dublin City Centre, right in the middle of an industrial site. I just happened to look out the window this morning, and saw a female sparrowhawk chase a sparrow onto the grass.

Cheered me up no end (although the sparrow didn't look too happy). She's now sitting in a tree about 20' from my window. Have to say she's a big improvement on some of the other birds in the office.
I think I'll be sneaking my scope into work in the morning !

Fiacha

[Ruby]

I have noticed (at distance!) a raptor of some sort which seems to be hanging around the local area and from it's body shape and 'flap, flap, glide' I assume it to be a Sparrowhawk. I have seen one chase birds through the garden on a couple of occasions over the years, but none of these sitings are very satisfactory.... one is so fleeting that it's over almost before you're aware of what you're seeing, and the other type is too far away!!

I'd dearly like to get a decent view of one...

We've at the extreme southern edge of the London suburbs BTW...

[helenol]

Mrs sparrowhawk is a regular visitor to the garden. If she has been unsuccessful at catching something, she sits on the tree branches in all her glory. Lovely bird, although I don't think that when she's chasing the blackbirds etc around! Mind you, all I have ever seen her take is collared doves.

[seb_seb]

Wow, after nearly a year i got some responses!!

[helenol]

...huh?

[pduxon]

...huh?

The original post was march 2003!!!

[helenol]

oops. So it was. Maybe this is a record, posting a thread and having an answer almost a year later! If so, congratulations sebseb.

[PaulAshton]

Here's another belated reply.

I also live in Walsall and have enjoyed watching Sparrowhawks in the town. In the town centre, above the train station, and at the mill lane (Rycroft) local nature reserve (well worth a visit) especially in the summer when the toads embark on their invasion of the rycroft estate.

If you're interested in othe wildlife then you've got red deer not far north in the woods near Pelsall and a large number of species of birds and animals in Cannock Chase.

[Hugh Clayton]

A pigeon was wandering about on the grass in my town garden yesterday, when a sparrowhawk swooped, pinned it to the ground and within seconds was ripping its throat out, scattering feathers all around. Soon afterwards it flew off, clutching the pigeon, and managed to fly for about 80 yards with it. It flew low, just clearing garden fences, but I was surprised it could lift such a large bird. Has anyone else seen a sparrowhawk lift such a heavy load?

QUOTE=seb_seb]after filling up the seed feeder, i looked up into the sky to see a "woodpigeon"...i would have just walked back inside if it hadnt made that strange noise , a "mew". Quickly and correctly i noticed this "woodpigeon" had more broad rounded wings and was gliding. I identified it to be a female sparrowhawk. I watched it flap-flap-gliding until it was high above my house..but i still had a good view. Shortly it was joined by the much smaller male sparrowhawk. They called and glided next to each other for a few minutes until they soared to high to see...less than specs in the sky. At a last glimpse i saluted them!
It makes me especially happy because walsall has had a bad reputation for being "ugly and dirty" and i can walk into the town centre in 15 minutes.
3 cheers for the sprawks!!:hippy:[/QUOTE]

[jayhunter]

Never seen one take anything the size of a pigeon, but would be useful for clearance of feral pigeons in the Town centres if they could.

[nirofo]

Hi Hugh Clayton

I saw a female Sparrowhawk take a Moorhen from the side of a pond in Derbyshire a few years back, after making the initial kill it flew off to it's nest quite easily, the nest was about a quarter of a mile away.

nirofo.

[bristolbirder]

Congratulations sebseb. This must be the longest running thread ever (with the possible exception of Dorset News - Hi Nina!)

I quite often get Sparrowhawks in and around my garden, sometimes landing on the washing line or in a tree. They can sit there in perfect view for several minutes always looking the magnificent bird that it is.

I have a good view of plenty of sky and distance from my window so quite often see them, along with Buzzards, gliding higher and higher before swooping down on some unsuspecting victim.

Now, if only I could see a Red Kite.................
:bounce:

[Hugh Clayton]

For some reason the red kites released near the M40 in Oxfordshire several years ago seem to have spread south and east more than west. I'm not sure they've got as far as Swindon yet, but between the Thames and M4 to the south of Oxford it's sometimes hard to venture outside without seeing one or more of the birds. This year I've seen at least one kite at Didcot, Upton, West Hagbourne, Homer Farm and the old airfield at Hampstead Norreys. I don't know if they're displacing buzzards, but there seem to be a lot more buzzards west of the kite "zone".

Congratulations sebseb. This must be the longest running thread ever (with the possible exception of Dorset News - Hi Nina!)

I quite often get Sparrowhawks in and around my garden, sometimes landing on the washing line or in a tree. They can sit there in perfect view for several minutes always looking the magnificent bird that it is.

I have a good view of plenty of sky and distance from my window so quite often see them, along with Buzzards, gliding higher and higher before swooping down on some unsuspecting victim.

Now, if only I could see a Red Kite.................
:bounce:

[seb_seb]

"but there seem to be a lot more buzzards west of the kite "zone"."

That seems to be more due to the fact that Buzzards have historically had a stronghold in the west and have only recently spread east? I dont know if Buzzards and Red Kites compete, and if so the usual outcome.....so i cant answer the "I don't know if they're displacing buzzards" part.
Seb

[Hugh Clayton]

Last summer I watched two red kites hounding a lone buzzard over fields and dense woodlands between Wallingford and Henley. I believe buzzards spread slowly eastwards in the 1980s and 1990s. I don't know if the very successful launch of the kites has created a lot of competition for them.

"but there seem to be a lot more buzzards west of the kite "zone"."

That seems to be more due to the fact that Buzzards have historically had a stronghold in the west and have only recently spread east? I dont know if Buzzards and Red Kites compete, and if so the usual outcome.....so i cant answer the "I don't know if they're displacing buzzards" part.
Seb