Sparrowhawk strategies

[Diane E]

Would a sparrowhawk fly very fast straight into the side of a privet hedge - about 5 foot off the ground - to catch a bird?

Something flew into my hedge in that manner about an hour ago and there was an almightly rumpus. The sparrows were in a mad panic. Not seen a bird since.

It all happened so fast but the impression I got was that the bird didn't seem so very big - maybe not much bigger than a big blackbird but more feathery somehow. It seemed to go in at an angle with its tummy towards me. Its tummy seemed to be tan/golden coloured, but not plain coloured, more speckedly or somesuch.

What could it have been?

[Andy Warne]

Sounds like a male Sparrowhawk, quite small, orangy sides, loves chasing sparrows into privet hedges!

[Diane E]

Really? I was watching the sparrows feeding on the ground under the hedge at the time. It didn't seem to chase one in, it just seemed to plunge into the privet. Is that likely?

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Diane E

Really? I was watching the sparrows feeding on the ground under the hedge at the time. It didn't seem to chase one in, it just seemed to plunge into the privet. Is that likely?

Yes, very likely. Once they've got something in their sites, they stick to it and often ignore others.

They can be quite kamakazi at times. I watched a female last week dive straight into a hawthorn intent of getting a woodpigeon. There was a bit of a scramble, but the pigeon put up a flappy fight, and wouldn't leave the tree. So in the end the hawk had enough, and seemed to sit on a branch outside the tree waiting for the pigeon to bolt out. The pigeon wouldn't move though, and in the end the hawk gave up and zipped away!

If you look at a sparrowhawk, it's built fot this kind of hunting technique. It's an ambush predator. Short broad wings and a long tail for stability when moving through dense cover and changing directions in the blink of an eye..

[Barbara]

Hi Diane
A similar thing happened to me, I was sat in my hide and it appeared from nowhere right in front of me about 3ft of the ground and flew straight into the bushes at the side, actually I just thought that when they did that they just swooped in and out but there was a lot of flapping about in the bushes. Another time I was sat on the garden bench when one just flew down the garden straight past my head and carried on into next doors garden skimming a four foot fence. And a few years ago at the top of the garden one skimmed the top of my head and proceeded down the garden to take a blue tit out of a conifer.
Barbara

[Diane E]

Oh. Ok. That was probably what happened then. Thank you all for the information.

[Diane E]

Another question about sparrowhawks......... Do they try to catch blackbirds?

[nightshade]

A Black bird would be in its range, they quite often charge through here and take starlings off the ornamental pear tree next door. I have
even had them take a pipistrelle or two fairly late into the evening

[aeshna5]

Yes, the males are smaller than females + take birds up to size of Blackbird, whilst the larger female will take birds up to size of Wood Pigeon, there are even records of females taking male sparrowhawks. The theory for different size of sexes is to reduce competion for prey species. Read The Sparrowhawk by Ian Newton.

[John]

Before any one gets carried away with identifying it as a Sparrowhawk remember the original description by Diane. She stated that it was no bigger than a Blackbird. If correct that would rule out Sparrowhawk but rule in Merlin. Merlin are low flyers (as Sparrowhawks can be on a kill) and I have seen them crash into a hedge myself after their prey.

John