Sparrowhawks - how frequently do they need to make a kill?

[Hedgehoggy]

Originally Posted by FUDGEY

You can see is the rubbish video the table I mean and a lucky Coal Tit.

23rd December 2011 Sparrowhawk | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Originally Posted by FUDGEY

Heres a clip I just found from two days before. You can see her here under the table.

21st December 2011 Sparrowhawk strike | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Why are the bird feeders hung so unnaturally low to the ground in your set-up? Surely this set-up would make Sparrowhawk strikes easier at this level, or is that the whole intention? Genuine question

[Adam Cheeseman]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

It must also be noted that they have quite a low success rate with about 1 in 10-12 hunts being successful.

A, now old, figure I heard quoted from the BTO was a 1 in 19 success rate.

Cheers,

Adam

[FUDGEY]

Originally Posted by Hedgehoggy

Why are the bird feeders hung so unnaturally low to the ground in your set-up? Surely this set-up would make Sparrowhawk strikes easier at this level, or is that the whole intention? Genuine question

They are hung at this level for photographic purposes Hedgehoggy. I purposely have put down loads of cut branches around my feeders given the birds some refuge for when the Hawks come in. You can see this probably saved this Coal Tits life. If I wanted to make it easy for the Hawks I could do this in 5 minutes. Heres a small clip from the other side showing you better what I mean. 22nd December 2011 Sparrowhawk Female | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by Hedgehoggy

Why are the bird feeders hung so unnaturally low to the ground in your set-up? Surely this set-up would make Sparrowhawk strikes easier at this level, or is that the whole intention? Genuine question

Fudgey has already explained the reasons for the positioning of the feeders, but I thought I'd add that as far as I'm aware Sparrowhawks do not have a preferred height at which they catch prey. They are ambush predators that would be quite happy taking birds from feeders at any height.

There are thing that could be done that might make it more difficult for Sparrowhawks to take birds coming to the feeders, but I don't think that there is anything that could be done that would stop them completely.

[Wild-Woman]

A few years back we had 2 kills in our garden and my neighbour had 2 as well on the same day. This was at the time of year when the sparrowhawks would have been feeding chicks. It didn't affect the amount of birds we had in the garden, infact as I remember, in that year there was an abundance of chaffinches and starlings.

[Hedgehoggy]

Originally Posted by FUDGEY

They are hung at this level for photographic purposes Hedgehoggy. I purposely have put down loads of cut branches around my feeders given the birds some refuge for when the Hawks come in. You can see this probably saved this Coal Tits life. If I wanted to make it easy for the Hawks I could do this in 5 minutes. Heres a small clip from the other side showing you better what I mean. 22nd December 2011 Sparrowhawk Female | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Ah I get it now! That last video shows your set-up in greater detail, in terms of refuge for the birds feeding, thanks for sharing that video .

You’ve captured some fantastic footage of the Sparrowhawk, all I usually see is a flash of one whizz in and back out of my garden! - Apart from two occasions when I inadvertently flushed her out from hiding low down in an ancient thuja while I was refilling my feeders nearby – I had no idea she was hiding in there on both occasions and I don’t know who was the more startled out of the two of us!

[Hedgehoggy]

Originally Posted by RoyW

as far as I'm aware Sparrowhawks do not have a preferred height at which they catch prey. They are ambush predators that would be quite happy taking birds from feeders at any height.

I fully agree with you re that, but that wasn't what I meant! Sorry, I didn’t make myself very clear in my previous post. I was going by Fudgey’s stats when he said the other day the Sparrowhawk was on the ball and caught every time, so I wondered if this success rate was because the small birds feeding so low down would lose vital seconds in flying out from under that table and up to safety in the trees, but Fudgey’s last video shows there is low down cover for them to dart into.

[Dogghound]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

A, now old, figure I heard quoted from the BTO was a 1 in 19 success rate.

Cheers,

Adam

Its only a very rough figure as it varies so much between individuals and is influenced by sex, age, weather, time of year, habitat, prey species and condition of the bird.