sparrowhawk vs red rumped swallow

[Dorcas]

have you seen this and talk about photo op!!!

Apologies if you are a twitcher but hee hee hee hee hee

One swallow, and it was gone... - Britain - Times Online

poor swallow that'll learn it not to tell left from right

Dorcas
birder/birdwatcher

[John]

I'm sorry Dorcas but that's nature in the raw but not something I would laugh at. I would be more in awe of what I had witnessed had I been there.

This happens many times with lost birds and Sparrowhawks are nearly always the predator that kills them. They are skilled hunters and these rare birds are disoriented any way, and are certainly not street wise to the the UK's environment and become easy pickings for our predators.

I have lost count of the many rare birds killed by both Sparrowhawks and Cats and I wouldn't think that the R R Swallow was the first in Scotland for a while. In fact I know of a few in Shetland that have succumbed to such a fate.

John

[Dorcas]

Originally Posted by John

I'm sorry Dorcas but that's nature in the raw but not something I would laugh at. I would be more in awe of what I had witnessed had I been there.

This happens many times with lost birds and Sparrowhawks are nearly always the predator that kills them. They are skilled hunters and these rare birds are disoriented any way, and are certainly not street wise to the the UK's environment and become easy pickings for our predators.

I have lost count of the many rare birds killed by both Sparrowhawks and Cats and I wouldn't think that the R R Swallow was the first in Scotland for a while. In fact I know of a few in Shetland that have succumbed to such a fate.

John

Oh John I thought it was brilliant it was nature in the raw and that's how it should be.

it was meant to be light hearted I'm sorry I have offended you

[John]

Originally Posted by Dorcas

Oh John I thought it was brilliant it was nature in the raw and that's how it should be.

it was meant to be light hearted I'm sorry I have offended you

You haven't offended me I just thought it seemed a bit flippant the response you gave.

I'm sorry if I came over heavy handed. I didn't mean to.

John

[Dorcas]

Thank you. I didn't want to give a long explanation at the time but can see why you misunderstood.

maybe it was - have you seen twitchers deliberately flush out birds to tick them? And there have been quite a few early bird deaths due to harrassment by twitching. A majority of the smaller travellers intended for hot climates tend to die anyway just a shame about the harassment.

I'm not a twitcher, I prefer to see birds behaving as they should in their environment but I have met a lot of twitchers and before anyone says, no not all twitchers are the same and some birders are twitchers but when I was birding a lot, twitchers got a bad name for themselves - hoipefully that's changed now.

It was the fact that twitchers had travelled far and wide to see this bird for a scottish tick perhaps and some would have been on the way when nature took it's course.

It's like me going to photograph a sunrise and after travelling 2 hours to the lake district, it rains.

[Alan]

The taking of rarities by Sparrowhawks seems quite common. Probably to do with the general condition of the rarity - an easy target? The American Robin that turned up here a couple of years ago was eventually taken by one.

By the way, the picture in the above article looks like a made up one to illustrate what 'might' have happend. It looks like a bit of Photoshop work to me. It did say that it happend on a roof.

Alan

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Dorcas

- have you seen twitchers deliberately flush out birds to tick them? And there have been quite a few early bird deaths due to harrassment by twitching. A majority of the smaller travellers intended for hot climates tend to die anyway just a shame about the harassment.

the key point here is its some twitchers not all of them that behave in an irresponsible manner , in fact a very small minority,

for the record i'm not a twitcher either - but we have had this discussion on here many times and it always gets needlessly heated

[Dorcas]

please read my post properly

I made a point of saying some as I don't want to inflame anyone.

[Dorcas]

can someone please delete this thread - it was only supposed to be of interest from something I saw in the news and in no way to generate arguments which it seems to have done.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Dorcas

please read my post properly

I made a point of saying some as I don't want to inflame anyone.

I know you did , I was agreeing with this and emphasising the point in case anyone was inflamed by your first sentence " have you seen twitchers flush birds just to tick them...."