At a loss as to this bird's identity

[AnthonyRalph]

Hello: first post here. This afternoon we looked out beyond the bird table (where pigeons and doves were scoffing food) and saw a completely lovely, but unknown to us - bird on the back fence.

It was about the same size as a collared dove, but with a much more streamlined profile. Clearly a bird of prey as it had something in it's claws which that obviously was once alive(!) tearing at this 'something' with a curved beak. It's tail was long and squared off at the end and it's wings were folded along it's back. The colour of it's back was a dark grey, with white at the root of it's tail. There was a a slight whitish colouring under it's beak and the breast was a strong pinkish colour reminiscent of the breast colour of a chaffinch - this latter colouring particularly caught our eye.

We have looked in our bird books and on the internet, but haven't come across anything like it. Can anyone help please?

Regards: Anthony.

[shenk1]

Possibly Male Sparrowhawk.

Much smaller than the female!

Welcome to WAB

PS if I'm wrong somebody else will put you on the right tracks

[RoyW]

Sounds very much like a male Sparrowhawk.

[sunnydale]

Sounds like a male Sprawk to me too.

A few images here to compare against....

male sparrowhawk - Google Search


Tracey


Oh and Welcome to WAB Anthony! :-)

[werdnal]

And as doves feature very highly on sparrowhawk menu, likley he was "scoffing" one of your other guests!

[AnthonyRalph]

Thanks to all that responded.

I guess we were thinking that a sparrowhawk would have bars across it's chest and our example (tucked under overhanging branches I will admit whilst he ate his dinner) didn't appear to marked in that way. Upon looking at the pictures kindly linked by Sunnydale we can see that the bars are not always that clear at all, hence a 'pink' chest as observed.

Being a bit 'bird racist' I would, on balance prefer his eating a dove rather than the goldfinches who breakfast and dine daily elsewhere in the garden.

Regards: Anthony.

[werdnal]

Originally Posted by AnthonyRalph

Thanks to all that responded.

I guess we were thinking that a sparrowhawk would have bars across it's chest and our example (tucked under overhanging branches I will admit whilst he ate his dinner) didn't appear to marked in that way. Upon looking at the pictures kindly linked by Sunnydale we can see that the bars are not always that clear at all, hence a 'pink' chest as observed.

Being a bit 'bird racist' I would, on balance prefer his eating a dove rather than the goldfinches who breakfast and dine daily elsewhere in the garden.

Regards: Anthony.

They take a variety of wild birds, and females can even manage something as large as a woodpigeon. Sad, but part of life and seeing wildlife in the raw on your doorstep is sometimes warts and all I'm afraid.

[bob.phillips]

Sounds like sparrowhawk to me. Bird life is like that.

Bob P.