Sparrowhawk

[Dulcebella]

Hi there all, this is my first visit to this website, the first of many I hope. I live in a village surrounded by agricultural fields, we have a modest back garden to our house, which is in the middle of a housing estate. We have gone to great lengths to set up a feeding station for any type of bird that wishes to drop in. Just recently we seem to have been 'spot balled' by the local Sparrowhawk, which visits the garden on a regular basis and sometimes is lucky enough to take a feeding bird. This morning we were greeted by the female Sparrowhawk, right outside the kitchen door, just in the early stages of plucking a freshly caught Collared Dove, She flew off to a nearby tree until we had left the garden, then she resumed her feasting. All that was left was a garden full of feathers. Then this evening, at dusk, we saw what we believe was the same Sparrowhawk, sat on top of a 6ft high hedge of fir trees, at the bottom of the garden, eating another meal, which through binoculars, we saw was a Collared Dove, was it the same Collared Dove as this morning and are Sparrowhawks known to Cache their prey until they wish to finish it, and would they have to feed every day, in the winter time, having eaten a bird nearly as big as themselves. All replies and suggestions welcomed please.

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by Dulcebella

... was it the same Collared Dove as this morning and are Sparrowhawks known to Cache their prey until they wish to finish it, and would they have to feed every day, in the winter time, having eaten a bird nearly as big as themselves. All replies and suggestions welcomed please.

Female Sparrowhawk will cache prey if disturbed while eating/know they are being watched. I'd say it would have been the same Collared Dove that it plucked and relocated to the tree earlier. One Collar Dove would see a female Sprawk well fed for 3-4 days in the winter. (This time of year, a male Sparrowhawk can survive on one finch/sparrow sized bird per day or a Starling or Blackbird every few days - obviously during the breeding season prey intake/requirements increase both to supply energy requirements of adults and to feed young at nest. )

[Dulcebella]

Thanks for that info Picidae, most helpful and certainly answered the questions I had yesterday, now, we have some more. This Sparrowhawk has definitely taken up residence in or very near to our garden, as I said on my original posting, our back garden is a modest affair, at the rear of a semi detached, in the middle of a small estate, there are no large deciduous or large conifers nearby. This morning, with a very heavy frost and iced up garden water features, the Sparrowhawk can be heard calling nearby. According to the books, they are quiet for most of the time. Surely it is not calling for it's mate, or is it? I am not, as it may appear, paranoid about this bird, but I would dearly love it to be resident in the garden become a regular sight. As far as I am aware it is only the female, the same one I believe, are they territorial ? and we have had no sightings of a male Sparrowhawk. The other birds, the finches and tits etc are still visiting the garden so the presence of the Raptor has not put them off their feed.

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by Dulcebella

Surely it is not calling for it's mate, or is it? I am not, as it may appear, paranoid about this bird, but I would dearly love it to be resident in the garden become a regular sight. As far as I am aware it is only the female, the same one I believe, are they territorial ? and we have had no sightings of a male Sparrowhawk. The other birds, the finches and tits etc are still visiting the garden so the presence of the Raptor has not put them off their feed.

Hi Dulcebella

Again, you've more or less answered your own questions! They are indeed territorial in the winter months as individuals and primarily quiet outside the breeding season. Males and females have separate hunting territories, as do same sex birds. The calling may well have been a 'warning' territorial call to other Sparrowhawks in the vicinity or indeed other raptors or carrion crows, warning them off any prey kill. You'll find your current garden birds won't be deterred from coming to the feeders although to balance the equation a little, you may want to position the feeders so they are not too in the open. However, raptor predation won't effect the local population and it's likely, since your visiting Sparrowhawk is a female, it will be hunting primarily for Collared Dove, Wood Pigeon and Feral Pigeons, since the larger prey items will allow it to conserve it's energy as it will need to hunt less.

[dunlin]

By the sounds of it dulcebella you dont need to go out, you can just sit in your kitchen window and watch wildlife come to you. I unfortunatly only have a concrete yard but on occasion do get the odd sparrowhawk flying over.

There are quite a few people who put seed out for the smaller birds and are surprised and annoyed to find sparrowhawks making regular visits to their garden for a feed.
Im of the same opinion as you and always thrilled to see sparrowhawks as well as other raptors when im out and about. I just wish i had a garden in which to attract them, mind you id have to take up gardening then

welcome to wab dulcebella
regards mark.....