Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Sparrowhawk = no small birds at feeders?

Options
  • 19-03-2011 7:11pm
    #1
    BrianD3
    Registered Users Posts: 8,289 ✭✭✭


    Saw a sparrowhawk on one of the bird feeders around 12:30 today, first time I've ever seen one in the garden. Beautiful sight. Not sure if it killed anything.

    But for the rest of the day there was not a single bird at the feeders. Bear in mind that I generally have 20 to 50+ birds at a time incl finches, tits, robins, starlings, collared doves. They will move to a safe location if there is a cat or human nearby but will be back very quickly when the threat moves away. However this sparrowhawk seems to have had a much more dramatic effect.


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    Generally things return to normal in a garden within a half hour of a Sparrowhawk visit. Maybe this bird hung around for a while and had a greater effect. I'm sure the other birds will return soon. A Sparrowhawk is great to see and is just another hint of the diversity in the bird world and shows you have a healthy bird population locally.


  • Options
    #3
    Half-cocked
    Registered Users Posts: 4,319 ✭✭✭Half-cocked


    Kayleigh Wide AcrossL wrote: »
    Generally things return to normal in a garden within a half hour of a Sparrowhawk visit. Maybe this bird hung around for a while and had a greater effect. I'm sure the other birds will return soon. A Sparrowhawk is great to see and is just another hint of the diversity in the bird world and shows you have a healthy bird population locally.

    I know of several gardens including my own where sparrowhawks regularly take prey. Everything returns to normal very quickly.


  • Options
    #4
    sables2
    Closed Accounts Posts: 207 ✭✭sables2


    Hi Brian D3. Are you in a rural area, or unban can i ask? It's interesting, as I've never even seen one let alone view one nibbling at a bird feeder in a garden - wow, hope you had your camera at the ready...(these are always the times you usually don't know where it is)


  • Options
    #5
    BrianD3
    Registered Users Posts: 8,289 ✭✭✭BrianD3


    I'm on the edge of a town, plenty of houses about but also plenty of farms and fields.

    Unfortunately even if I had the camera close by I would have had about 2 secs to get it setup before the sparrowhawk flew off. The way it happened was I was eating dinner and out of the corner of my eye saw/heard "something" fly from the gutter over the kitchen window to the bird feeders. I got up to investigate as there was something unusual about it. Saw a sparrowhawk perched awkwardly on the caged feeder before flying away.


Advertisement