Sparrowhawk

Thelonious Monk

My day was made today when I went into the kitchen and I saw a sparrowhawk for the first time ever, ripping a mouse or rat apart on my back garden wall!
This is in Dublin 5. I was only thinking last night while out the back garden that the amount of birds in this area is crazy, gangs of all sorts of them. Also I have seen loads of foxes lately and even a badger!
Are sparrowhawks common in Dublin? I took a couple of crappy zoomed in pics that I'll try and upload later. He was gorgeous!

Tiercel Dave

Sparrowhawks are quite common but a 'rodent' would be an unusual prey species....

Tiercel Dave

Repost.....

DellyBelly

Yeah rodent wouldn't the usual prey for a sparrowhawk. It is normally smaller birds..be interested to see the photo

Thelonious Monk

I went falconing with a different kind of hawk back in February, a Harris Hawk, and when he was doing his thing flying around before coming back to me he caught a mouse and I got to watch him tearing it apart. This guy this morning was doing the same kinda thing, they hold them down with their feet, and it really looked like a rodent. Apparently there's a lot of mice/rats around this summer from people littering everywhere, but yeah maybe it was a wren or something but it looked like a mouse to me!

Tiercel Dave

Hard to tell from the photos what she has caught but if it was a bird there would be tell-tale signs of feather on the wall or thereabouts.
A Harris is quite robust, has strong feet and a will tackle a Rabbit or a medium Hare resulting in a bit of 'rough and tumble'. By comparison a Spar's toes are very long and slender, adapted to capture birds in a tail chase. Look at the length of her legs. They do not want to risk damage to toes or legs as that would almost certainly be a death sentence.
That's an adult in the pics and I'd lean towards it being female.....