| Re: Sparrowhawk menace?
I don't know why they're called Sparrowhawks, our regular visitor is a PigeonHawk to be sure. She never bothers with anything smaller.
I was only telling Kev yesterday, there was a Sparrowhawk on the bird feeder at dawn. She'd come back for the pigeon she killed the evening before but hadn't finish eating. Raining and too dark to take a photo I went out anyway to see how close she'd let me approach. About four meters as it turned out, then she jumped down to move her kill away from me. I left her to it and stepped back quietly.
Two hours later, feathers everywhere she was still standing proudly on top of it. Since she'd eaten well and the rain had stopped I thought I'd chance taking my camera outside. Got nowhere near her, she saw it at once and was off!
Unlike many people I like pigeons and am happy to feed them along with all the other birds that visit us. I have to say though a couple of years back I was getting quite worried about their ever increasing numbers. Our lady Sparrowhawk by doing what comes naturally seems to have restored a balance.
I don't want to make it too easy for her though. Moving the feeders to an area where there is more cover is probably the best approach. A place where the hawk doesn't get a clear line of attack. We've moved several - just the big feeding station to do still.  |