Sparrowhawk diet?

baaba maal

We have a sparrowhaw regularly picking up "fast food" from our feeders. This morning I managed to see him (and I'm pretty sure it is a <smaller> male) flying away with a large bird. Moments earlier there had been a woodpigeon feeding on the ground. so I didn't see the kill, but there wasn't a woodpigeon there after he had struck!
The only other birds in the vicinity were the usual finches and tits and the prey was certainly much larger than them.
So my question is, is it possible for a sparrowhawk to take something as big as a woodpigeon? I imagine there isn't a huge weight difference betwen them so I would be surprised, but raptors continue to amaze me.....

tricky D

Females can. Here's an example of a 'crime scene': http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=71600964&postcount=518

olly_mac

A good while back I saw a male sparrowhawk take on a jackdaw. The jackdaw put up a hell of a fight, so eventually the Sparrowhawk dragged it to a puddle and tried to drown it! The jackdaw managed to escape even that. It was a very dramatic few minutes.

Scotty #

Saw one take a pigeon in a tree a few years ago. There was a loud kerfuffle as they fell to the ground through the heavy ivy on the tree. I didn't actually know what was going on until I went for a closer look and then there under some briars the Sprawk had the pigeon pinned down on it's back and was already starting to pluck the breast feathers off as the pigeon still struggled. I walked right up to touching distance and the sprawk looked at me but was not letting go of that pigeon. Unfortunately, these were the days before mobile phones. I left her (or him) to it and the following afternoon I went out to have a look to see what was left of the pigeon. I was amazed to see the Sprawk was still there 24hrs later and only flew off as I approached.

Half-cocked

Seen them take feral pigeons, but these are quite a bit smaller than woodies.

marlin vs

Ive seen them take my neigbours racing pigeons several times,the mistake they make is to head for shelter in the trees and that's where they get caught.

Birdnuts

In my experience the male will take birds up to the size of a Collard Dove. The larger female up to Wood pigeon size

Kess73

Birdnuts wrote: »

In my experience the male will take birds up to the size of a Collard Dove. The larger female up to Wood pigeon size

That pretty much nails it.


Throw in mice and rats also as what they will catch and eat.

Kess73

baaba maal wrote: »

We have a sparrowhaw regularly picking up "fast food" from our feeders. This morning I managed to see him (and I'm pretty sure it is a <smaller> male) flying away with a large bird. Moments earlier there had been a woodpigeon feeding on the ground. so I didn't see the kill, but there wasn't a woodpigeon there after he had struck!
The only other birds in the vicinity were the usual finches and tits and the prey was certainly much larger than them.
So my question is, is it possible for a sparrowhawk to take something as big as a woodpigeon? I imagine there isn't a huge weight difference betwen them so I would be surprised, but raptors continue to amaze me.....

If it was a male sprawk then it did not fly off carrying an adult woodpigeon. Carrying an unplucked and fully dead blackbird is something that gives a male sprawk a fair bit of bother and even then it will only go a short distance. An adult woodpigeon would be far too heavy and could be anywhere from twice to three times the weight of a male sprawk.

A woodpigeon would also take a fair bit of time for a male sprawk to kill, so there would be no quick snatch and grab going on if a male tried that on.


A female sprawk will take down an adult woodpigeon a bit easier given that she will on average be at least a third bigger than the male, but even that won't be a quick job resulting in a fast flyaway. She will still have to take time to subdue the woodpigeon, then pluck it, and remove parts as she works on it.



Another thing to mullover is that when you see a sprawk flying away with prey, especially a male sprawk, you have to take the male's fairly small size into account and remember that even something like a great tit will look average sized whilst being carried off, and something the size of a red wing, starling, or blackbird will actually look pretty large whilst being carried by a male sprawk.

Have put these up before, but here are the two resident sprawks that nest on land I own behind my house. They might give you an idea of the differences between a male and female in colour (apols if you already know)


Male with a Housesparrow







Female with a collared dove.

dodderangler

Birdnuts wrote: »

In my experience the male will take birds up to the size of a Collard Dove. The larger female up to Wood pigeon size

Males will also take on magpies aswell though are not very successful unless it is a head shot as the maggie will fight back
A female will go for larger than woodie such as common full or black backed gull
I Havint seen it personally but there is pics on a falconry site I am on that shows them doing it
Makes are flown at blackbirds mainly and good flights are to be had
Females has a wider variety with pigeon and magpies being main quarry but also at dumps the gulls are taken aswell also jackdaws and crows
Rooks are too dangerous for a female spar though she will not hesitate to take one on

Birdnuts

dodderangler wrote: »

Males will also take on magpies aswell though are not very successful unless it is a head shot as the maggie will fight back
A female will go for larger than woodie such as common full or black backed gull
I Havint seen it personally but there is pics on a falconry site I am on that shows them doing it
Makes are flown at blackbirds mainly and good flights are to be had
Females has a wider variety with pigeon and magpies being main quarry but also at dumps the gulls are taken aswell also jackdaws and crows
Rooks are too dangerous for a female spar though she will not hesitate to take one on

Can falconry birds be trained to take on larger prey than their wild cousins??

dodderangler

Birdnuts wrote: »

Can falconry birds be trained to take on larger prey than their wild cousins??

Falconry spars do you mean?
Well in wild they would generally stick in same territory so some never see a gull
Falconry the falconer will move different places
And if they are trained on a lure to resemble a full they will take it on in the fields but falconer must be quick to assist it
Same with my hawk if she goes on rabbit she's fine but if she takes on a hare I need to be quick to help

Kess73

dodderangler wrote: »

Males will also take on magpies aswell though are not very successful unless it is a head shot as the maggie will fight back
A female will go for larger than woodie such as common full or black backed gull
I Havint seen it personally but there is pics on a falconry site I am on that shows them doing it
Makes are flown at blackbirds mainly and good flights are to be had
Females has a wider variety with pigeon and magpies being main quarry but also at dumps the gulls are taken aswell also jackdaws and crows
Rooks are too dangerous for a female spar though she will not hesitate to take one on

In the wild the female sprawks tend to avoid lesser black backed gulls and to a degree the common gull. The sprawk needs to be conditioned to even think about going after the former, although the latter on it's own I have seen taken down once or twice in the wild.

The great black backed gull on the other hand is more than capable of killing even a large female sprawk and will actively persue one if they sight it. Takes a much larger bird of prey than a female sprawk to bother the great black backed gull. The female sprawk would have more chance against a rook than a bruiser that can dispatch rooks. Have on two seperate occasions seen female sprawks not fly away from attacks by great black backed gulls and it was not a close fought thing each time

dodderangler

Your right but that is in the wild
An imprint female will be flown harder with harder fitness made by the falconer ( sprawks are opportunistic hunters and will often hide and burst at last minute when prey lands close or slowly flies past) and heavier weight
And the flights from imprint can last a lot longer than in the wild and a falconer could bring a female imprint a lot closer to an unsuspecting gull and a head shot will subdue it with falconer being close t hand to dispatch
In the wild sprawk will struggle and yes it would have to be in pristine condition and larger to take one on
They are extremely brave and are basically just a smaller goshawk and both breeds can be turned hybrids a gos x spar and are left with a very large quick spar basically
Like this lad is one of my favourites don't mind the screaming it's an imprint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmhQyl4fXAc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Kess73

dodderangler wrote: »

Your right but that is in the wild
An imprint female will be flown harder with harder fitness made by the falconer ( sprawks are opportunistic hunters and will often hide and burst at last minute when prey lands close or slowly flies past) and heavier weight
And the flights from imprint can last a lot longer than in the wild and a falconer could bring a female imprint a lot closer to an unsuspecting gull and a head shot will subdue it with falconer being close t hand to dispatch
In the wild sprawk will struggle and yes it would have to be in pristine condition and larger to take one on
They are extremely brave and are basically just a smaller goshawk and both breeds can be turned hybrids a gos x spar and are left with a very large quick spar basically
Like this lad is one of my favourites don't mind the screaming it's an imprint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmhQyl4fXAc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Oh it was wild sprawks that I am talking about not reared sprawks. I know a trained sprawk will have access to a more regular diet, vitamins, better roosting conditions, and medical attention if/when needed, so it should nearly always be a stronger, fitter bird and the fact it will also be a conditioned bird in terms of what it is trained to go after it will have lost much of the natural wariness that a wild bird will have had towards certain species.


I am in no doubt about the resolve of a sprawk though, wild or otherwise, and in terms of temperament/willingness to stand it's ground it really is a bird that punches above it's weight division. They are easily my favourite bird of prey and thanks to my regular wild sprawks (especially the male who tries to shadow me on foot in the garden often with less than three or four feet between us) I have spent countless hours all year round for a number of years watching them hunt, interact, build nests, rear young, defend territory, use many different hunting techniques (including a very basic form of cooperative hunting albeit not on the level of harris hawks).


The goshawk comparison is an obvious but good one, but for me the Sparrowhawk are eagle owls born in the wrong bodies such is their fierceness and unwillingness at times to acknowledge their physical shortcomings.:D



That is a beautiful bird you have btw.

dodderangler

Sorry kess
Should've said its not mine
I could never afford a spar x gos
That's a cross with a black sparrowhawk aswell
Atb

Kess73

dodderangler wrote: »

Sorry kess
Should've said its not mine
I could never afford a spar x gos
That's a cross with a black sparrowhawk aswell
Atb

Ahh thought it was your cross breed. Still a beautiful looking bird though.

dodderangler

Kess73 wrote: »

Ahh thought it was your cross breed. Still a beautiful looking bird though.

It is a cracker but I would never fly it
It's an imprint and that screaming is very annoying when out flying
The bird basically thinks its a person

Kess73

dodderangler wrote: »

It is a cracker but I would never fly it
It's an imprint and that screaming is very annoying when out flying
The bird basically thinks its a person

Hehe don't know about it thinking that it is a person, but would agree that an imprint would think itself as part of a group that was more pack than flock.


The screaming is just a knock on effect of an imprint thinking it was part of a hunting group though, is it not? As in it has gotten used to having it's own role within the group and acts as the chaser/spotter for the more powerful group/pack members.


I always find imprints to be fascinating as they often disply traits that are more mammalian than avian, especially the ones that are brought up to work in tandem with one or more dogs. Mind you the same can sometimes be said, albeit to a much lesser degree, for conditioned/trained birds that are not imprints.

baaba maal

Wow-thanks for all the responses! Maybe I need to reassess the gender of the "sprawk"- I get a sense of the size difference from the photos (ta), but I would need tosee Mr and Mrs lined up together for me to really apprciate the difference. We do get collared doves also- so there mighthave been one there at the time that I missed (some of the ground is obscured by shrubs etc). Anyhow, I'll keep watching to see if I can get my eye in on the size difference.
Thanks all