Help to identify a bird

[Dasamdra]

Hi all,

My 9 year old daughter took these pictures this morning, just after she saw the bird catch a pigeon in mid flight. She (and I) would like to know what typoe of bird this is. Please could someone help us to identify the bird in the photo's.

Thanks in advance.

[RobinP]

Welcome, I believe it is a female Sparrowhawk you have there.

Robin

[ChrisJB]

It is a lovely sparrowhawk.

Regards, Chris

[earthdragon64]

It's a Sparrowhawk, which are fairly common. Welcome to WAB.

Regards, Audrey.

[Dasamdra]

Hi all,

Thank you all for replying, I must admit my daughter was very excited to see such a wonderful natural experience (my wife said it was awsome to see).

Could somone recommend any pubilications that will assist us with identification of other birds, are the 'Collins' books any good?

Regards
Dave.

[elvisoneill]

Dasamdra

The Collins Guide is the best.Exhaustive,compact,absolutely reliable.

For anyone starting out it may be just a bit intimidating.



I'd have a look at the RSPB Guides first and then dive into Collins.

Good luck!

Elvis

[Naturenutz]

yes books by collins are generally good,i also like books by hamlyn but there are so many good books to choose from .Sparrowhawks are super birds and often go unoticed as they often fly low and very fast.

[willowjay]

Congratulations to your daughter for taking a pic that many of us would be proud of Quick thinking and quick snapping.

The Collins "Birds of Britain and Europe" is a paperback reliable friend to all of us who reckon we can identify most birds if they stay still long enough - but also gives us enough information to make some informed guesses with some of the others. My constant companion for an embarassingly long time.

[kestrel76]

Nice Sparrowhawk. I love the new (2nd edition) Collins bird guide. I have a number of fieldguides but nothing comes close (in my opinion at least) to this book!

[RoyW]

It's good to hear that this encounter proved so interesting!

Originally Posted by Dasamdra

Could somone recommend any pubilications that will assist us with identification of other birds, are the 'Collins' books any good?

There are several Collins bird books, and most replies seem to have assumed that you mean the "Collins Bird Guide" by Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney, Dan Zetterström, and Peter J. Grant (paperback version available for £9 on a well known website). This one is by far the best field guide to the birds of Britain and Europe, but because it covers so many species could be very confusing as a beginners book - you will have very little chance of seeing well over half the species covered in Britain.

For a beginners guide I would second the recommendation of the "RSPB Handbook of British Birds" by Peter Holden and Tim Cleeves (just under £6, online). This covers all the species that you are likely to see in this country, as well as some that would get even experience birdwatchers quite excited if they found them! It also contains quite a lot of interesting information, such as life expectancy, which other guides typically leave out.