A visitor this morning

Bojill

Hi, I have absolutely no knowledge of birds, but saw this in the back garden and thought it was unusual.
Not great quality as it's behind glass door, flew away when I opened the door.
Sparrowhawk?
Bird.jpg

magicbastarder

yep, sparrowhawk.

Fleetwoodmac

Bojill wrote: »

Hi, I have absolutely no knowledge of birds, but saw this in the back garden and thought it was unusual.
Not great quality as it's behind glass door, flew away when I opened the door.
Sparrowhawk?
Bird.jpg

A beauty

corks finest

Bojill wrote: »

Hi, I have absolutely no knowledge of birds, but saw this in the back garden and thought it was unusual.
Not great quality as it's behind glass door, flew away when I opened the door.
Sparrowhawk?
Bird.jpg

Watching goldfinches or other feeders I'd say ( had similar)

Muppet Man

Hi Bojill... that’s amazing. I came here to ask the same question, and I think it’s the exact same bird .... see attached! Again cr@ppy photograph through a rainy glass window. He was only there for 5 secs and gone again. I am in Ongar D15... where about a are you?

magicbastarder

why would you think it's the same bird?

Muppet Man

magicbastarder wrote: »

why would you think it's the same bird?

Just The conincidence of both of us seeing a hawk in our back gardens on the same day, around the same time. Ive never seen a hawk in my back garden. Made my day

Bojill

Muppet Man wrote: »

Hi Bojill... that’s amazing. I came here to ask the same question, and I think it’s the exact same bird .... see attached! Again cr@ppy photograph through a rainy glass window. He was only there for 5 secs and gone again. I am in Ongar D15... where about a are you?

Celbridge, we have a small water feature which attracts some small birds, maybe he/she was looking for lunch.

gzoladz

magicbastarder wrote: »

why would you think it's the same bird?

I think he means the same species

fryup

Muppet Man wrote: »

Hi Bojill... that’s amazing. I came here to ask the same question, and I think it’s the exact same bird .... see attached! Again cr@ppy photograph through a rainy glass window. He was only there for 5 secs and gone again. I am in Ongar D15... where about a are you?

thanks for giving me a crick in my neck :cool: (rotate it before you post it)

corks finest

Bojill wrote: »

Hi, I have absolutely no knowledge of birds, but saw this in the back garden and thought it was unusual.
Not great quality as it's behind glass door, flew away when I opened the door.
Sparrowhawk?
Bird.jpg

Quite common TBH

corks finest

fryup wrote: »

thanks for giving me a crick in my neck :cool: (rotate it before you post it)

I'm lucky I live near Roberts cove Cork and go up the cliffs walk regularly and spend ages watching out for all classes of hawks kestrels, falcon's , buzzards etc, rarely leave without seeing a few

Doctors room ghost

They’re gone fierce common and are becoming a menace in some places.

corks finest

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

They’re gone fierce common and are becoming a menace in some places.

Ref attacking small birds?

Del.Monte

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

They’re gone fierce common and are becoming a menace in some places.

How so?

corks finest

Del.Monte wrote: »

How so?

I'm asking you what are they doing ? sorry that was for the op

Doctors room ghost

Yeah attacking and killing small birds especially easy pickings at feeders etc.
They also play havoc with racing pigeons.they kill the racers and terrify and scatter the flock.
If the hawks hit a race aswell they destroy the pigeons with most of them never getting home due to injury and sheer panic.
They hang around motorways a lot now too killing small mammals beside it and getting fresh road kill

magicbastarder

they are called sparrowhawks? that's their 'purpose'.
i can't say i see the issue of them attacking pigeons as being one i'll lose much sleep over.

corks finest

magicbastarder wrote: »

they are called sparrowhawks? that's their 'purpose'.
i can't say i see the issue of them attacking pigeons as being one i'll lose much sleep over.

Yes it's nature

Birdnuts

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

Yeah attacking and killing small birds especially easy pickings at feeders etc.
They also play havoc with racing pigeons.they kill the racers and terrify and scatter the .
If the hawks hit a race aswell they destroy the pigeons with most of them never getting home due to injury and sheer panic.
They hang around motorways a lot now too killing small mammals beside it and getting fresh road kill

They are no more common then in any other EU country with similar habitats - they have simply recovered from a very low base during the 19th and 20th centuries when we lost half our native BOP species. Plus many "Garden" birds like Goldfinches, Blackcaps etc. are doing well according to all the latest data. BOP's also control alot of vermin like rats, crows, feral pigeons etc and clean up roadkill etc.

Del.Monte

@ Birdnuts


Agree with all of your post above but less of your bad-mouthing crows. Vermin indeed!

Doctors room ghost

magicbastarder wrote: »

they are called sparrowhawks? that's their 'purpose'.
i can't say i see the issue of them attacking pigeons as being one i'll lose much sleep over.

Tell that to a pigeon fancier who spends thousands on lofts,equipment,feed and birds plus all the effort of training young birds to home and trap.

Del.Monte

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

Tell that to a pigeon fancier who spends thousands on lofts,equipment,feed and birds plus all the effort of training young birds to home and trap.

Which is more natural, wild sparrowhawks or inbred racing pigeons - many of which go on to breed with the cursed feral pigeons that infest the country causing filth and health risks.

Tiercel Dave

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

Tell that to a pigeon fancier who spends thousands on lofts,equipment,feed and birds plus all the effort of training young birds to home and trap.

Could you proffer a solution?.....

OpenYourEyes

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

Tell that to a pigeon fancier who spends thousands on lofts,equipment,feed and birds plus all the effort of training young birds to home and trap.

That's part of the risks that you accept when you get into racing pigeons unfortunately. If the general public had to pick between a healthy raptor population and racing pigeons, they wouldn't be picking the racing pigeons...

OpenYourEyes

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

Yeah attacking and killing small birds especially easy pickings at feeders etc.
They also play havoc with racing pigeons.they kill the racers and terrify and scatter the flock.
If the hawks hit a race aswell they destroy the pigeons with most of them never getting home due to injury and sheer panic.
They hang around motorways a lot now too killing small mammals beside it and getting fresh road kill

Just for clarity, they're having no population level impact on small birds at feeders. That's just something people with preconceived biases against them (e.g. pigeon racers) have convinced themselves is true.

Storm 10

In relation to small birds at feeders I have a regular Magpie coming in and the Finches are used to him now and he never bothers them walks around the garden eating spilt seed and worms.

TedR

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

Yeah attacking and killing small birds especially easy pickings at feeders etc.
They also play havoc with racing pigeons.they kill the racers and terrify and scatter the flock.
If the hawks hit a race aswell they destroy the pigeons with most of them never getting home due to injury and sheer panic.
They hang around motorways a lot now too killing small mammals beside it and getting fresh road kill

Mod: Attack the post, not the poster.<<SNIP>>

Sparrowhawks causing 'havoc'? Its like something from a nature column in the Daily Mail, if they had one