Bird of Prey attack

JayWalsh

Lads,

I was out for a walk last night in the local forestry and heard the sound of a pigeon flapping its wings to leave a tree, usually this lasts 5 seconds maybe, but this sound was continuous for well over a minute.
I followed the sound and as i approached the location where i heard the sound, a pigeon flew out of the undergrowth and off into the trees. I could still hear rustling so i kept moving forward, then another pigeon flew out of the same spot, then a second or two later a bigger bird of prey of flew out and up into the trees.
I got to the spot and couldn't see anything, but my dog found a dead pigeon in the undergrowth.
I have two question's, could this have been in a Goshawk? I know they hunt and live in woodland environments.
Was this a case of the pigeons ganging up on the bird of prey to defend the other pigeon?

Regards

Jay

Del.Monte

Can't imagine pigeons ganging up on anything other than a big feed. Why a Goshawk, far more likely a Sparrowhawk.

recedite

I'm guessing that it was a sparrowhawk, and the pigeon didn't die instantly, hence the flapping sound. His friend was too lazy to fly off, knowing that he was safe enough and off the hook for a while. That is, until you and the dog showed up, which spooked him.

JayWalsh

Sparrowhawk sounds a lot more likely. Sound lads.

TopTec

I've seen 4 Sparrowhawk kills this year in the garden and around the cottage. One Fieldfare, 2 Swallows and a Chaffinch I think it was. In the case of the Chaffinch and one of the Swallows they were taken whilst on their own from the feeder and overhead wire but the other two resulted in immediate mobbing of the Sparrowhawk, whilst it had its prey on the ground.

Surprisingly, when the other Swallow was caught it was a multi-species mob. Thrush, Greenfinch and Swallows all joined in whilst in the Fieldfare case it was just several other Fieldfare that air mobbed the hawk.

If small varieties do it I can't see why a group of pigeons wouldn't do the same.

TT

TedR

Goshawk would be lovely ;-) but far more likely to have been a spar. I do think there are a few gosses around and about, ex falconry birds, but on balance of probability its going to be a sparrowhawk.
They can be quite slow to actually finish off the kill, especially with a relatively large prey bird like a pigeon.
I wonder if the dead bird might have been one of this years young, and the family group stayed fussing around having seen it attacked.

TedR

Also, as a bird, ganging up on a goshawk is putting your own life in serious danger :-)