Murder in my garden this morning

Flukey

As I ate breakfast this morning and looked towards the kitchen window, I saw something swoop very fast downwards. A few minutes later when I stood up from the table and looked out the window I saw something. I immediately ran upstairs and got my video camera and took about 3 minutes of footage. These are some stills from that footage. I am presuming that it is a Peregrine Falcon. What it caught was definitely a blackbird, as I could see its gold beak as the falcon fed. It was watched by 2 magpies. I will put the video link up soon, as it is currently uploading to YouTube.

Alun

It looks more like a sparrowhawk to me. Great photos though, I'm looking forward to the video! Did the magpies get any of the remains?

Mr. Presentable

Certainly Sparrowhawk. Great shots

crosstownk

Well done on the shots! Post the YouTube link when you have it sorted. i'd be inclined to think it's a sparrowhawk too.

I'd a corpse of a collared dove in my garden last week, but no signs of a struggle, not a mark on the deceased or a feather in sight so I reckon he just keeled over.

Flukey

This is the piece of video from which those photos were taken from:

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=AD5RQgLfQ0I

I was rushing out to work when this happened, so I didn't get to stay around to see what happened afterwards. There were feathers lying where the meal was had and close by, but nothing else when I came home this evening.

Mr. Presentable

I enjoyed that, thanks Flukey. Tells you a lot about the behaviour of magpies too.

crosstownk

Excellent video. I'd say the magpies finished off whatever the sparrowhawk left behind.

Flukey

There were only a few feathers left when I got home last evening. Whatever else there had been was probably devoured or taken away. Is it definitely a sparrowhawk?

While in America last September, a group of us were chatting on one of those long motel-type balconies. We heard a bit of commotion just a few yards behind us. We turned and saw some kind of bird of prey attacking a smaller bird. The smaller bird managed to get free and flew off down a nearby stairwell. It was the only other time I've seen a bird of prey in action.

Alun

Flukey wrote:

Is it definitely a sparrowhawk?

Yes. That's a typical sparrowhawk stance in the photo you showed, with the tail pointing down towards the ground like that, plus the orangey bit just under the eye.

Peregrines wouldn't normally be seen in a typical suburban situation like that, they generally require rocky ledges for their nests, although they have been found nesting on high-rise buildings in cities like New York, whereas Sparrowhawks are relatively common in those kinds of areas especially if there are any areas of mature trees in the immediate area. Also Peregrines are usually a bit bigger than that .. the smallest Peregrines start off where the largest Sparrowhawks end, if you see what I mean, and you can get a good idea of size by comparing him to the blackbird he's eating and the two magpies.

amerden

Agree with Alun, it's a female Sparrowhawk, the male is much smaller and more grey-blue, in fact not much bigger that a Blackbird.

I'm surprised you haven't seen her before as I noticed in your video that you have a bird table in your garden, unless of course the table is a fairly recent addition or not in use, you will find that she visits a busy table at least twice a day to check out what's on the menu, so keep a lookout in future.
This time of year you will know when she's around because you will hear the swallows making quite a racket and see them swooping all over her.

Flukey

We've had a birdtable in the garden for a few years now. If you check some of my other videos I have one of birds feeding on nut feeder that is also in that part of the garden. Incidentally, I've seen a mouse feeding on that on a number of occasions. I've also a great one of a fox in the garden, one of seals and one of what looked like a rat. I've also got one of black squirrels that I saw in a park in Toronto a few years ago. I'd give David Attenborough a run for his money.

As to seeing the sparrowhawk before, I did recently see something at some distance that looked a bit like a bird of prey, but it was too far away to be certain. My brother also saw what he thought was a merlin in the area a few weeks ago. We'll keep a lookout. Thanks for the identification and the compliments on the video.

philstar

fantastic footage ..well done!!

well just the other day i heard a commotion in my back garden, they were birds flying all over the place, so i raced up to see what was going on and there was a sparrowhawk attacking a thrush's nest and then it stopped and just stared at me for a good five seconds..wish i had my camera.:cool:

Flukey

Luckily my camcorder was primed and ready to go. There was a cassette already in it, at a suitable point, so all I had to do was turn it on and start filming. It was great to have got as much as I did. It would have been feeding there for a few minutes while I had been having my breakfast. It was well into it's breakfast by the time I actually saw it. It was a case of legging it upstairs and starting to film. I was also having to leave for work a few minutes later, so it was all a big rush. Great to have got it on camera though. No sign of it since, though I have seen foxes in the garden and I have video footage of them too as I said. When you view the link above then look for the links that shows my other videos and it is amongst them. I have a playlist of nature videos set up.