Sparrows and Sparrowhawks

[Mo.]

Reading Coldun's recent post on a Kestrel kill, I thought I would share with you some events that have happened in my postage stamp of a garden here in south Wales.
When I say a postage stamp garden I mean just that, it's tiny, but the amount of birds that visit is amazing. They say that sparrows are in decline, well let me tell you they are all here, we have hundreds of them and each year the nest boxes we put up with the "to let" signs on them are fully taken and several broods are raised during the year, besides the nest boxes they find their way into the garage, and the shed, not to mention the hedges. We have six nest boxes situated under the eaves of our small bungalow ( my hubby makes them himself). I feed the birds all through the year, which of course provides the occasional meal for the sparrowhawks, good to know the sparrowhawks are thriving here, because that tells me that the sparrows are too.
There has been several incidents involving the sparrowhawk, whereby I have unintentionally disturbed him/her, thus leading to either an unfed sparrowhawk and lucky sparrow, or a dead sparrow and a hungry sparrowhawk.
We have a greenhouse in our garden which situated very close to our thorny hedge, several times during the summer, a sparrow has been chased by the hawk, and the hawk either getting trapped in the greenhouse, or behind it, the last incident it was trapped between the greenhouse and the hedge, the sparrows dive into the hedge for safety, anyway I had disturbed this hawk by coming into the garden at an obvious crucial time, it was fluttering it's wings trying to get through the glass of the greenhouse, I entered the greenhouse and there was only the glass between us, that close, she was on the ground with her wings outstretched and these beautiful yellow eyes glaring at me. I was surprised at how small she was. The poor thing was obviously frightened, so thought if I got something to cover the glass it would make it's way towards the side of the greenhouse to the light, but as I moved out of the greenhouse, it took off, there was no sign of any dead sparrows. Why is it these camera moments always happen when the camera is not to hand?

Mo.

[Wild-Woman]

How wonderful to have so many sparrows. It's great to hear that you provide so well for them all too. Gold star for that I think! Must be sparrow paradise.
Your sparrowhawk incident is the sort of thing that happens to us nature lovers. No camera and something stunning and beautiful set up for a photograph. The thing to do is as you've done, memorise the whole thing and play it back to yourself. You get a collection in the end!
This has happened to me several times when I've come across the heron raiding our pond. Our shed covers some of the view of the pond from our house, so you don't see it until you come around the corner and there his majesty is! Sometimes the heron and I must look as stunned as each other! One day I creep up there and get that shot.
Our local sparrowhawk seems to visit us about the same time of day when it shows up, so perhaps if you see if yours has a regular sort of pattern of things, you may be lucky one day.
Julie

[aeshna5]

Mo- sounds like a lot of drama on your postage stamp! I think your "her" was a "he", as males are much smaller than females. The theory behind that is so that the sexes don't compete for food, as females tend to go for larger prey-up to size of Wood Pigeon- while the male attacks much smaller birds. Males are sometimes killed by females!

You haven't got all the sparrows- I live in London suburbs + though they have disappeared from many former haunts in capital, mine are doing extremely well as I feed with peanuts + sunflower hearts throughout year, I have lots of cover + because I garden for wildlife there's plenty of invertebrates necessary for the young. I also regularly get Sparrowhawk + occasional visits from Kestrel + Hobby.

I've had small birds in greenhouse + if I enter they start desperately hitting themselves against glass, so I've found best policy was to leave the door open + walk away + they then leave unharmed. Shame you didn't have camera- but life's like that isn't it?

Good to hear about your experiences.

[nightshade]

Hi Mo ,I am glad that you have a good sparrow population have you ID-d them?
sometimes they can be both house and (if you are very lucky) tree sparrows
Sparrowhawks seem to be on the increase recently I had a collar dove and sparrowhawk(probably female)crash into the patio door the hawk flew off the dove had a broken neck

[Mo.]

Originally Posted by Wild-Woman

The thing to do is as you've done, memorise the whole thing and play it back to yourself. You get a collection in the end!
Julie

So right Julie, and what a collection our memories provide, good thing we can do this as now i'm without a camera, it's just given up the ghost, will have to wait until after christmas before getting a new one.

Mo.

[Mo.]

Originally Posted by aeshna5

Mo- sounds like a lot of drama on your postage stamp! I think your "her" was a "he", as males are much smaller than females.

I'm pretty certain it was a female, by the colouring, brown as apposed to dark grey, good to know that the sparrows are surviving in your neck of the woods too.

Mo.

[Mo.]

Originally Posted by nightshade

Hi Mo ,I am glad that you have a good sparrow population have you ID-d them?
sometimes they can be both house and (if you are very lucky) tree sparrows
Sparrowhawks seem to be on the increase recently I had a collar dove and sparrowhawk(probably female)crash into the patio door the hawk flew off the dove had a broken neck

Hi nightshade, not sure I'd know the difference between house and tree sparrows, all I know is we have lots of them. shame about the collared dove, we have lots of those here too, they just love digestive biscuits.

Mo.

[Alan]

Originally Posted by Mo.

Hi nightshade, not sure I'd know the difference between house and tree sparrows, all I know is we have lots of them. shame about the collared dove, we have lots of those here too, they just love digestive biscuits.

Mo.

Hi Mo,

In House Sparrows, the sexes are different: Males have grey cap, black bib/eye strip and chesnut colouring to back and wings, whereas females are a more even brown/grey all over.

In Tree Sparrows, both sexes are alike: Both look a lot like male H.Sparrows, but they lack the grey head cap and extensive black bib of the H.Sparrow.

There should be some images in the Gallery of both.

Incidently, I've never seen a Sparrowhawk actually take/hunt Sparrows. I've only seen them take Great tits/Blue tits, and Starlings around here, plus the odd Wood Pigeon. Plenty of H.Sparrows round here though.

Alan

[Gill Catton]

I'm chuffed to bits having settled into my new house my little garden in full of sparrows and starlings - I had hardly any of either species at my parents house which is more rural. However now I have plenty and watching my stupid cat trying to stalk starlings on the feeders right out in the open with the starlings looking at his approach totally unconcerned almost mocking him it's hilarious....
Also have blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, greenfinches, dunnock and robin so far and I keep hearing a Great spotted woody in the area so maybe I'll put some peanuts up too see if I can tempt him / her over!

[Garden Carpet]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

I'm chuffed to bits having settled into my new house my little garden in full of sparrows and starlings - I had hardly any of either species at my parents house which is more rural. However now I have plenty and watching my stupid cat trying to stalk starlings on the feeders right out in the open with the starlings looking at his approach totally unconcerned almost mocking him it's hilarious....
Also have blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, greenfinches, dunnock and robin so far and I keep hearing a Great spotted woody in the area so maybe I'll put some peanuts up too see if I can tempt him / her over!

Lucky girl, give that cat a penalty as they do in racing by putting weights on him.... so he cant run and jump so fast!!
jaki