Collared Sparrowhawk having lunch.

I heard Betty sound the alarm off in the backyard. She's makes a good stand-in rooster when there's trouble around. I ran out to find this guy wrestling with one of the doves. He grabbed it in his claws and flew into the neighbours yard..

Sorry for the blurred pics :( my hands were shaky and I have yet to buy a telephoto lens!!

But what type of bird is he? I was thinking he looked like some sort of hawk. He plucked the feathers right off that poor dove :(

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Comments

Pink Thistle says:

It's a juvenile Collared Sparrowhawk.
they can be quite silly in their youth, I one had to free one that had trapped itself in a classroom. This involved taking off my shirt because I sure as heck wasn't to grab it bare-handed - look at that beak and those claws! (And no, there was no-one else around to be scared by the sight of a pale woman chasing a bird while dressed and jeans and a bra...)
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

pookado says:

Hi Pink!! I told my hubby you'd be the one to comment on this little guy. He was pretty aggressive.. and gave my hens quite a fright! They haven't come out from under the bushes all day!

Can he hurt the hens??

I checked on this little fella again - he is still sitting amongst a pile of feathers a couple of hours after I took the pics. His tummy must be full!

Thanks so much for putting a name to our visitor :-)
Cheers
Mel
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

Pink Thistle says:

The most he'd do is give them a fright. I reckon a dove'd be about as big as he could manage - hence him sitting for a couple of hours digesting :) He *might* have a go at them if desperate but they sound like pretty smart chooks, hiding under trees like that!
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

harvest.moon says:

Wow. great "hawk" series. these are terrific. look at that yellow eye!! we have hawks here but i usually see them flying off with a squirrell or we just find the pile of the left over feathers! great captures.
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

pookado says:

Thanks Harvest.moon! :-) He was such a joy to watch in action. :-)
Posted 6 months ago. ( permalink )

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Taken on May 4, 2009
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Collared Sparrowhawk having lunch.

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Pink Thistle says:

pookado says:

Pink Thistle says:

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