Sparrowhawk menace?

[Tinkerbell]

Neighbours have asked me to enquire if any members can suggest a way of either discouraging sparrowhawks, or would they be allowed to remove and resite these birds if they could be captured. Our gardens were once full of small birds, and one neighbour has at least 15 feeders hanging in his garden. You could see these small birds swooping down to feed whenever he came out - twice a day - to feed them.

However, he has seen 2 sparrowhawks around recently and believes that they might have scared the others birds away, and would appreciate some advice. Preference would be to discourage the sparrowhawks - maybe not putting food out for a while might make the sparrowhawks look elsewhere. What do you think?

Tinkerbell

[aeshna5]

Sparrowhawks , like all birds of prey, are fully protected by law + so it would be illegal for your friend to attempt to capture + release them elsewhere. Even if he did there's a chance the bird would return or others will certainly take its place if there are good feeding oppurtunities.

Though it's a little sad to see a bird taken, it is nature + I think most of us get excited by a Sparrowhawk in the garden- I get them regularly, they do occasionally make kills here, yet I still get plenty of birds in the garden.

I think the key is for your friend to situate his feeders near to some cover which at least gives the smaller birds a chance to escape. Remember the Sparrowhawk is a sign of a healthy food chain + has to eat too.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

In my opinion, the Sparrowhawk issue is much the same as the Magpie one. In the way that both have somehow become unliked by some people for doing a job nature intended them to do Sparrowhawks have large territories and will be hunting in many gardens in the local area, the small birds are used to the threat and i don't personally feel it'll put them off feeding because of one or two visits a day

The best thing to do is plant something close to the feeders that the small birds can use as a shelter if attacked.Something thick and thorny

[Gill Catton]

Its the evidence of a healthy and thriving small bird population that sparrowhawks are around, although I can see that sometimes they would be unwelcome. However, there have been a number of threads recently about seemingly empty gardens with causes highlighted as being such a mild winter meaning there's still plenty of wild food around - rather than sparrowhawks.
Also there are threads about birds carrying on regardless - despite recent sparrowhawk kills in the garden illustrates how sparrowhawks are not necessarily a deterrent.
Capture and relocation of sparrowhawks would be extremely undesirable. As... well..... frankly sparrowhawks have as much right to be around as a great tit but also because as indicated, they are evidence that the small bird population is good and healthy and a new sparrow hawk would simply move into the area.

Plus points,
Sparrowhawks are operating on winter ranges at the moment and activity may shift areas when breeding starts.
There are methods of deterrents such as sticking bamboo poles in the ground around feeders that (supposedly) slow the hawk up as it has to negotiate around the obstacles. I think I've also seen something in the bird food catalogues that looks like a reflective mirror globe on a stick that's supposed to deter raptors too.
Planting nice dense spiky shrubs gives small birds a bush to dive into to be safe that a sparrowhawk can't get into, a regularly used tactic!!
Sparrowhawks are generally weeding out the weak and the unfit - ultimately making the population stronger - just as you would thin a tray of seedlings. This surely should be considered a good thing?

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Great reply Gill Sparrowhawk are close to my heart and i get rather emotional when defending them

[honeybee]

I don't really like to see the sparrowhawk kill the birds in my garden but it's also a thrill to see such a beautiful, clever bird. I aslo think it's part of the small birds natural defence to disappear for a while, they do come back.

[Tinkerbell]

Thanks folks - I'll pass on your opinions and advice tomorrow. I was with friends today and we all felt that the 'problem' actually stemmed from a plentiful supply of food elsewhere, rather than the sparrowhawk presence, but the chap who is so good at feeding may like to try one or two of your ideas.

Regards.

Tinkerbell

[Dan Salter]

Sparrowhawk and menace in the same sentence?

i thought this site was for wildlife lovers?.....hmmmm....

[nightshade]

Enjoy the Sparrowhawks,there must be a strong enough prey base for them to flourish
You cannot pick and choose what wildlife you like and discard the rest cherish it all
before it disappears

[John]

Both aeshna5 and Gill Catton's replies are excellent The only other thing I would add is that Sparrowhawks are possibly responsible for culling the weaker birds as they are possibly the slowest to react to attacks.

Personally I would never site a feeding station that isn't close to cover. If you do you invite problems like this.

John

[Tinkerbell]

Personally, I also find the presence of sparrowhawks in the garden and their activities quite amazing, but my neighbours are obviously worried. I'm sure they will be reassured when I pass on the info.

Regards. Tinkerbell

[Owl-Light]

I don't know why they're called Sparrowhawks, our regular visitor is a PigeonHawk to be sure. She never bothers with anything smaller.

I was only telling Kev yesterday, there was a Sparrowhawk on the bird feeder at dawn. She'd come back for the pigeon she killed the evening before but hadn't finish eating. Raining and too dark to take a photo I went out anyway to see how close she'd let me approach. About four meters as it turned out, then she jumped down to move her kill away from me. I left her to it and stepped back quietly.

Two hours later, feathers everywhere she was still standing proudly on top of it. Since she'd eaten well and the rain had stopped I thought I'd chance taking my camera outside. Got nowhere near her, she saw it at once and was off!

Unlike many people I like pigeons and am happy to feed them along with all the other birds that visit us. I have to say though a couple of years back I was getting quite worried about their ever increasing numbers. Our lady Sparrowhawk by doing what comes naturally seems to have restored a balance.

I don't want to make it too easy for her though. Moving the feeders to an area where there is more cover is probably the best approach. A place where the hawk doesn't get a clear line of attack. We've moved several - just the big feeding station to do still.

[mrs fish]

The males take the smaller birds.
Yes it is upsetting to see your little garden friends being snatched but it is also good to say I've had a bird of prey visit my garden
Where they see a garden with feeders and birds it is like us going to Mc Donalds.

[Hawkwind]

As bird lovers we should not interfere with nature, the beautiful sparrowhawk is only doing what comes naturally. In the 1950's farmers used DDT as a pesticide which almost destroyed Britains bird of prey population, for centurys game-keepers poisened and shot these beautiful birds. Now that thier populations have recovered we should leave them alone.

Trapping and relocating sparrowhawks is not an option. Man has done enough damage as it is !!! Hawkwind.....

[henrya]

There used to be a peanut feeder in the tree outside my office, well visited by Great Tits and Blue Tits. Occasionally I used to see all the birds sitting still, and I'd know there was a Sparrowhawk about. He/she used to take one or two, but there are still plenty around - I don't think it affected the population to any great extent. As someone else said, Sparrowhawks have got to live.

henrya

[Adam Cheeseman]

A study of sparrowahwk prey population numbers covering the period when sprawks were virtually wiped out by DDT (carried out by the BTO) showed that their prey species populations not only didn't increase but in the case of some species there was a noticeable decline in the population.

Sparrowhawk like all predators (except Man)are not daft enough to eat themselves out of their food supply.

I not only have Sparrowhawks in my area, but also Kestrels, and, in summer, Hobbys and there are plenty of small birds around here. Though it is a bit quiet on my feeding station too. The predicted cold snap next week might bring the birds in hopefully.

[vinnychameleon]

I was just sat watching all the activity in my garden when all the birds disappeared. Then a beautiful female sparrowhawk passed within a foot of the patio doors I was looking out of. She just skimmed the ground and then circled above the house for 5 mins or so. I see them regularly but never this close.

[nightshade]

Just had a Sparrowhawk shoot down the road as I opened the curtains
a young chap delivering telephone directories watched open mouthed
Excellent! that memory will always be with him

[Wolfhill]

I had a male and a female in my back garden today, the female visited on several occasions and didn't seem bothered by my presence in the slightest lol.

[pookiecheeks]

hello all,
just before christmas day we had a sparrowhawk capture and eat a starling in our garden. wasn't sure if it was a young sparrowhawk or one that had the starling the wrong way round. everytime the sparrowhawk proceeded to pluck the starling, it got pecked back several times by the starling. looked a bit odd to me, surely it would have been better to have it on its front thus avoiding any injury to itself ? anyway, it managed to have a meal and later flew off.

to be honest, i felt priveledged the sparrowhawk visited us. not sure if they are indeed a menace, but as it was, we personally have far too many starlings in our garden. they bully the smaller birds off the various feeders we have, so i wasn't upset by the kill. sorry if there goes against the thinking within this forum.


pooks

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by pookiecheeks

hello all,
just before christmas day we had a sparrowhawk capture and eat a starling in our garden. wasn't sure if it was a young sparrowhawk or one that had the starling the wrong way round. everytime the sparrowhawk proceeded to pluck the starling, it got pecked back several times by the starling. looked a bit odd to me, surely it would have been better to have it on its front thus avoiding any injury to itself ? anyway, it managed to have a meal and later flew off.

to be honest, i felt priveledged the sparrowhawk visited us. not sure if they are indeed a menace, but as it was, we personally have far too many starlings in our garden. they bully the smaller birds off the various feeders we have, so i wasn't upset by the kill. sorry if there goes against the thinking within this forum.


pooks

The prey are normally held front up as the breast is first part to be eaten as it's most nutritious, though normally small bird like Starling is often dead by that point. The larger females regularly take pigeon species + these are usually still alive when they start tucking in- a bit gruesome to watch!

[Wild-Woman]

Wish someone could get through to my neighbour that sparrowhawks have just as much right on this earth as every other creature. He thinks that it's disgusting that they prey on HIS garden birds.
I've tried to explain to him that it shows a healthy population etc etc. No good.
So we have-clapping of hands and yelling,as he tears off down the garden path to see 'that pesky bird' off. As he returns he pulls up any little 'weed' that dare think about growing in his manicured lawn. A set frown when he discovers a slug has by passed his slug pellets and set about his plants, grumbles at the indignity of that 'flaming Fox' that left a calling card on his rockery and those bloomin starlings that make a mess under his feeder that is reserved for blue/great tits only.


I've come so near to calling him Victor Meldrew.One day I'll do it by accident......I shall move then.

[buzfuz8149]

Hi WW,

sounds a bit like my neighbour we moved here 14 years ago and within the year he accused me of pinching his birds, I told him to meet them half way and put some feeders out.
He did not want the starlings only the tits and chaffinch.

Carol.

[Gill Catton]

I am convinced that there are some gardeners who see the brightly coloured birds as an extension of the pretty flowers and shrubs in their gardens and that they ought to be able to both feed, and control the predators of just as they do the flowers, they don't seem to have so much of an awareness that the birds are part of a much wider environment and survive happily in the niche they have evolved over centuries to fill.

[Buzzy]

I agree that people should allow our species of wildlife to take it's natural course, especially the birds of prey. They are all too persecuted still, in some areas, and need to recover numbers to maintain survival. I love watching all birds from the smallest to the bigest, wherever possible. I saw a buzzard circling round and it stopped directly above me and hovered for a while. I didn't know if it was trying to size me up or was merely as curious about why I was looking at it, as I was of him/her. Another experience was watching a sparrowhawk kill a wood pigeon. Yes it was a sparrow hawk and the pigeon was so much larger the poor thing could not lift it off the ground but it had a very good try ! I felt sorry for the pigeon but wow! what a sight.