| Re: Sparrowhawk diet?
Thanks for your replies.
I notice that it is mostly the older text books that state the diet of sparrowhawks as being finches and sparrow-sized prey and nothing larger.
It could be that when these books were written, this was indeed their usual prey.
Quite a lot has changed in the sparrowhawk's world in the past thirty years -
1. There are a lot more of them around and their traditional prey has generally declined.
2. There has been a huge increase in collard dove numbers.
3. They are much more likely to occur in urban situations.
So it could be that the old books were correct in their time but the hawks have had to adapt in order to survive in their present numbers.
Just a theory!
Paul |