Hello everyone.
I would like to tell you about a magnificent sight in my garden today. Unfortunately I found a dead juvenile starling (I was looking out of the kitchen window and he literally fell from the sky right past the window!). The poor mite hit the patio with such force he was bleeding from the mouth. Could it have been a sparrowhawk that caught then dropped him?
As I couldn't bear the thought of just "putting him in the bin" I had the idea of placing him in the middle of the lawn.
The reason for this is because there is a red kite who is a daily visitor to our area and I had seen him today, so I thought it better the starling be "recycled" than be disposed of.
I watched and waited for 2 hours when I saw the red kite circling overhead. Suddenly he was chased off by 2 members of a crow family (this isn't the first time he's been chased away from the area by them).
An hour later (still looking out of the kitchen window - patience is a virtue apparently), I was rewarded with the magnificent sight of a red kite swooping down seemingly in slow motion and picking up the starling. Fantastic. All this just about 20 feet in front of me.
The other birds in my garden at the time (blackbirds/doves/finches of all types/robins etc didn't seem too bothered. Obviously they flew away when this giant swooped down but they returned almost immediately. Quite different to when there is a sparrowhawk around.
Regards
Helen
I would like to tell you about a magnificent sight in my garden today. Unfortunately I found a dead juvenile starling (I was looking out of the kitchen window and he literally fell from the sky right past the window!). The poor mite hit the patio with such force he was bleeding from the mouth. Could it have been a sparrowhawk that caught then dropped him?
As I couldn't bear the thought of just "putting him in the bin" I had the idea of placing him in the middle of the lawn.
The reason for this is because there is a red kite who is a daily visitor to our area and I had seen him today, so I thought it better the starling be "recycled" than be disposed of.
I watched and waited for 2 hours when I saw the red kite circling overhead. Suddenly he was chased off by 2 members of a crow family (this isn't the first time he's been chased away from the area by them).
An hour later (still looking out of the kitchen window - patience is a virtue apparently), I was rewarded with the magnificent sight of a red kite swooping down seemingly in slow motion and picking up the starling. Fantastic. All this just about 20 feet in front of me.
The other birds in my garden at the time (blackbirds/doves/finches of all types/robins etc didn't seem too bothered. Obviously they flew away when this giant swooped down but they returned almost immediately. Quite different to when there is a sparrowhawk around.
Regards
Helen