What was it and what killed it? (WARNING sort of graphic)

[~T~]

My friend posted this on her facebook and asked if I could post it here. To me it looks like a sparrowhawk made a pretty good meal of a pigeon. I've never seen the remains of a bird of prey kill in the snow before and quite frankly it creeps me out a bit and very very few things creep me out

[FUDGEY]

I would bet money that was a Sparrowhawk. Found the exact same thing at my feeding station the other day.

[AndyC]

I'm not at all sure about sparrowhawk. Look at the size of the footprints around it, I would suggest a bigfoot or yeti.


Andy

[actionfinch]

nice one Andyc
Its very interesting that they have to eat there, if i was a sparrowhawk i would fly off somewhere near, let the bids go back to the garden and kill again , but in saying that , the birds come back anyway...
i had a few feathers ( and after seeing the pics they were wood pigeon) and my feeders being a bit quiet i wonder if i had one on a fly by ...no i doubt it...dreaming and wishing again...
I would have said a sparrowhawk..

[kangarooz]

I have had the exact same thing, we think it was one of the doves, but there must have been a huge fight as the blood was everywhere, the snow made it look sickening!!.

Is a sparrow hawk big? As in the summer I did see a bird of pray on our fence but no idea what it was. But it seemed quite small, is a hawk or kestrel smaller?

[kangarooz]

It also makes me feel a bit guilty, we had at least 4 deaths over the summer, but blood/feathers was harder to spot on the grass so I expect there was alot more!

[davecatt]

Originally Posted by actionfinch

nice one Andyc
Its very interesting that they have to eat there, if i was a sparrowhawk i would fly off somewhere near, let the bids go back to the garden and kill again , but in saying that , the birds come back anyway...
i had a few feathers ( and after seeing the pics they were wood pigeon) and my feeders being a bit quiet i wonder if i had one on a fly by ...no i doubt it...dreaming and wishing again...
I would have said a sparrowhawk..

Not really, when a bird of prey is locked on to a kill it follows like an Exocet missile 'til it brings it down without a thought for anything else. I'd suggest this was probably knocked down in flight and the predator was disturbed at the kill, notice how the only bit of bare flesh is around the neck and a bit of the wing. The only sign of disturbance to snow is the small crater to the left of the carcass which shows a few feathers but no signs of aproach (apart from the Yeti tracks). So not a cat,rat or other mammal. Most likely a Sparrow hawk but could be any small to medium size BOP (especially this time of year when they tend to settle in areas with easy pickings and suitably sheltered roosting sites).
Dave

[actionfinch]

cheer davecatt, something else i have learned about the little fella's.