Is this our resident female sparrowhawk with a kill ?

[Steve_In_Cheshire]

We have a male sparrowhawk that visits quite often and he is quite easy to photograph but the female sparrowhawk is very elusive, ive only seen her once in the last 6 months and that was just a flash of brown chasing something, ive never seen her for long enough to get a pic.

Is this our female sparrowhawk with a kill, she is certainly big. It was taken from approx 50ft away with a zoom through a window, its the best i could get.

[Dogghound]

Yes this is a female Sparrowhawk

[Fieldfare95]

Yes I would say a female and good pic

[Harold Smith]

Female Sparrowhawk and it looks as if it has got a kill. As to what it is difficult to say. Blowing up the picture it does look like a bird carcass. It's not very clear but from the colour it look like exposed flesh as if it had been stripped of its feathers and skin.

Harold.

[Steve_In_Cheshire]

Thanks for the ID, i thought it was a female sparrowhawk but i`m not an expert so i`m glad to get it confirmed.

The females are massive compared to the males, we have both a male and female sparrowhawk that visit and she`s huge in comparison to the male.

They are a stunning looking bird, glad she got a feed.... Their is a large population of birds in our area, thats probably why the sparrowhawks are here lol.