Saturday 19 February 2011

Sparrowhawk attack in my garden........................

Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus)
I heard a bird hit my patio doors this afternoon and saw what I thought was one of my Woodpigeons fly up onto the neighbours roof with his feathers all ruffled.
I then realised it wasn't a pigeon at all but a male Sparrowhawk.
The collision on my window had been a failed attack on one of my garden birds.
The hawk was a real beauty and luckily stayed around long enough for me to grab my camera and get a couple of record shots taken through the window.
I couldn't have wished for a better birthday present.

11 comments:

grammie g said...

Hi Andrew..I bet that gave you a start...hey you may be a year older, but you can still move quick!! ; }}
He sure is a beauty and a great photo to!
Glad you got a great birthday gift!!

Unknown said...

See as you get older things are more exciting!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

theconstantwalker said...

Cheers grammie I couldn't have wished for a better present.

Gary you are so right. Lets hope it keeps getting better.

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday & I agree it was a great gift. Glad I've discovered your blog and I appreciate your kind words on mine lately. Cheers from Texas!

joo said...

Happy Birthday! Beautiful photo - it's a terrific birthday gift, also for us:)

theconstantwalker said...

Many thanks John and joo. It really has been a lovely day.

firebrace said...

another beauty andrew. with the varied birdlife you have in the garden i`m amazed you have the time to go on your wanderings, i`d be too frightened of missing something on the doorstep! a couple of years ago at work we had a sparrowhawk fly into the warehouse and took up residence in the rafters. unfortunately it couldn`t find it`s way out again. we tried placing raw meat as high up as possible but he wasn`t interested. after about a week a local falconer agreed to come and net him, but sadly he died a few days later. i once had a peregrine eating a sparrow in the garden, all that was left as he flew off was a beak and a pair of feet!

leschornmom said...

Well Happy birthday!!!love, Love, LOVE this picture! Do they visit you yard often?

Kerri Farley said...

Super capture! And Happy Birthday!

Johnny Nutcase said...

Those are really neat bird. Pretty cool he was in your yard, and I'm glad the collision into the window didn't hurt him!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Well -- happy belated birthday -- that really IS a very handsome fellow. (I am always sort of glad when a hawk attack fails...I mean I do understand the balance of nature and all that, but can't help wanting the songbirds to escape.) In Oregon we used to have kestrels in our yard often -- whenever I spotted him, I had to restrain myself from going out to shoo off the songbirds.)

But I love the regal-appearing hawks as well! Your picture is excellent!