I see sparrowhawks over my garden on a regular basis, somtimes chasing prey through the adjoining gardens, also quite a lot of eveidence of kills in the garden.
My wife called me into the garden two weeks ago to look at an injured collared dove, that she said had been caught by a cat. I realised that it was the work of a sparrowhawk & went back to the house to view the returning bird, before I could get the camera, the bird returned & flew off with the dove, I think it was a female or a juvenile, quite a large bird with very dark brown plumage.
A few days later around 1 mile away, I witnessed a sparrowhawk take out a collared dove around 20ft in front of the car & finish the kill right in front of me on the path, I think this was a male, which was smaller & more grey in colour.
The next day another sparrowhawk was being chased out of town by a seagull, right above my garden, it took the gull a while, but he won in the end, this bird was grey in colouration & I don't know if it was male or female, as the dog fight was quite spectacular & quick.
Environment is out of town suburbs, close to a golf course with a few copses, lots of quite large garden areas.
With this in mind, I would like to know the approx territory size of the sparrowhawk, considering the activity lately I am wondering whether I am seeing the same birds ?
My wife called me into the garden two weeks ago to look at an injured collared dove, that she said had been caught by a cat. I realised that it was the work of a sparrowhawk & went back to the house to view the returning bird, before I could get the camera, the bird returned & flew off with the dove, I think it was a female or a juvenile, quite a large bird with very dark brown plumage.
A few days later around 1 mile away, I witnessed a sparrowhawk take out a collared dove around 20ft in front of the car & finish the kill right in front of me on the path, I think this was a male, which was smaller & more grey in colour.
The next day another sparrowhawk was being chased out of town by a seagull, right above my garden, it took the gull a while, but he won in the end, this bird was grey in colouration & I don't know if it was male or female, as the dog fight was quite spectacular & quick.
Environment is out of town suburbs, close to a golf course with a few copses, lots of quite large garden areas.
With this in mind, I would like to know the approx territory size of the sparrowhawk, considering the activity lately I am wondering whether I am seeing the same birds ?