Decision made , I'm not going to stop feeding them - just hope I'm out when he / she snaffles the next one ! I was laughing over the ''eviction'' - don't really want to evict anything from my garden (except the slugs !!! ) Love watching everything - here's some photos of the sparrowhawk - excuse quality they were taken from behind a window in conservatory.
We get the odd sparrowhawk in our garden. Have yet to see it take a small bird only doves and wood pigeons. It is such a beautiful bird and like you say Obelixx, it has to feed too. I dont like to see it but thats the circle of life as my young grandaughter told me.
I have hawks here at most times of the year, although it tends to be the males that hunt the smaller birds at my feeding stations. They do indeed have a role to perform in ensuring the fitness of bird populations and a study recently showed that they are vital in protecting songbird nests.
Basically, small birds nesting within the hawk's territory are protected from corvids and don't become a menu choice until later in the year when the chicks fledge and need plenty of prey nearby. In this way the songbirds raise a brood or two with lower predation pressure. As the male does most of the hunting in the early days, smaller birds are targets but once the young are old enough to be left by the female she'll target pigeons and doves that last the family a bit longer.
In previous gardens I've used trellis to limit flight paths and enable small birds to escape but here I do nothing and enjoy the balance. Hawks don't catch much and last winter a one-eyed brambling was a regular for three weeks, despite two male hawks hunting the feeders. She disappeared with the other migrants.
We have a rule.... all birds fed equally and whilst it's a bit upsetting when ours takes out a smaller bird as you say they've got to eat too. I find it totally acceptable for the sparrowhawk to use our garden as a pantry, and I live in the hope that one day she might end up scrapping with next doors cats who take the birds for fun and just play with them.
the much beloveds dad moves his feeders around quite a bit in the hope that the sparrowhawk he has visiting gets a bit confused and never can assume the same flight path through the garden. it doesn't work completely but it has reduced the casualties.
i have a pair that visit my garden all the time.. the one in my avatar it is.. and i dont mind..it is nature and they often take sparrows..but so do cats.. and to be honest they do prefer blackbirds..
had one yesterday nearly hit my kitchen window while chasing a sparrow..he had hid in the tree and awaited their feeding time.. thye getting clever.. but i ahve to let nature do its thing.. i cant feed some birds and not others.. they are all nature.. i have raverns come in to my garden and pick up the scraps let over.. they are big and brutish but they are nature...
i have seagulls nesting on my flat roof.. blooming noisy at 3am in the morning.. but they are nature and they keep the cats and rooks away... so good. and he comes and taps on my french doors when he hungry.. thou trying to se him perch on my window sill is funny and he is far to big..
if you are going to help nature along then you have to help all of it...
I have a sparrowhawk too, who has taken four baby starlings from my garden this year. I put mealworms on the ground and s/he just swoops down and catches them. I had the sparrowhawk last year too, but it stopped visiting around the end of June and I figured that it had successfully fed it's babies until they fledged and then no longer needed the food. Perhaps it was also the fact that older birds are quicker and it lost interest when it couldn't catch anything any more! It's an incredible noise that all of the small birds make when the sparrowhawk approaches - definitely a step up in urgency compared to their normal alarm calls. Whenever I hear it, I get the camera out...
Wow, very impressed with all the knowledge about the sparrowhawk - learnt a lot about how it predates other birds and I know its just it s nature so will leave things as they are Will not serve any eviction notice on it - however , if it gets the nuthatches I will personally pack its bags !! They ve only just made an appearance this year and only ever appear together - love watching them scuttle headfirst down the trellis . Love to get some photos but they are just so quick ! Are these visitors or are they present all year round ?
I recall the RSPB saying that if you have sparrowhawks, it is a sign of a healthy bird population - so feeding the birds encourages the avian diversity.
btw nuthatches are wonderful to watch. In my previous garden we used to see them on next-door's hazel bushes (well, overgrown hedge really!). They are resident in England, as far north, I believe, as the Mersey, and are (were?) rare in Scotland. That's what my bird book (and my Twitcher-neighbour) says, anyway.
Posts
Decision made , I'm not going to stop feeding them - just hope I'm out when he / she snaffles the next one ! I was laughing over the ''eviction'' - don't really want to evict anything from my garden (except the slugs !!! ) Love watching everything - here's some photos of the sparrowhawk - excuse quality they were taken from behind a window in conservatory.
Can't - file too big changed profile pic !
Perhaps a sign would help with the eviction!
I have hawks here at most times of the year, although it tends to be the males that hunt the smaller birds at my feeding stations. They do indeed have a role to perform in ensuring the fitness of bird populations and a study recently showed that they are vital in protecting songbird nests.
Basically, small birds nesting within the hawk's territory are protected from corvids and don't become a menu choice until later in the year when the chicks fledge and need plenty of prey nearby. In this way the songbirds raise a brood or two with lower predation pressure. As the male does most of the hunting in the early days, smaller birds are targets but once the young are old enough to be left by the female she'll target pigeons and doves that last the family a bit longer.
In previous gardens I've used trellis to limit flight paths and enable small birds to escape but here I do nothing and enjoy the balance. Hawks don't catch much and last winter a one-eyed brambling was a regular for three weeks, despite two male hawks hunting the feeders. She disappeared with the other migrants.
We have a rule.... all birds fed equally and whilst it's a bit upsetting when ours takes out a smaller bird as you say they've got to eat too. I find it totally acceptable for the sparrowhawk to use our garden as a pantry, and I live in the hope that one day she might end up scrapping with next doors cats who take the birds for fun and just play with them.
the much beloveds dad moves his feeders around quite a bit in the hope that the sparrowhawk he has visiting gets a bit confused and never can assume the same flight path through the garden. it doesn't work completely but it has reduced the casualties.
i have a pair that visit my garden all the time.. the one in my avatar it is.. and i dont mind..it is nature and they often take sparrows..but so do cats.. and to be honest they do prefer blackbirds..
had one yesterday nearly hit my kitchen window while chasing a sparrow..he had hid in the tree and awaited their feeding time.. thye getting clever.. but i ahve to let nature do its thing.. i cant feed some birds and not others.. they are all nature.. i have raverns come in to my garden and pick up the scraps let over.. they are big and brutish but they are nature...
i have seagulls nesting on my flat roof.. blooming noisy at 3am in the morning.. but they are nature and they keep the cats and rooks away... so good. and he comes and taps on my french doors when he hungry.. thou trying to se him perch on my window sill is funny and he is far to big..
if you are going to help nature along then you have to help all of it...
I have a sparrowhawk too, who has taken four baby starlings from my garden this year. I put mealworms on the ground and s/he just swoops down and catches them. I had the sparrowhawk last year too, but it stopped visiting around the end of June and I figured that it had successfully fed it's babies until they fledged and then no longer needed the food. Perhaps it was also the fact that older birds are quicker and it lost interest when it couldn't catch anything any more! It's an incredible noise that all of the small birds make when the sparrowhawk approaches - definitely a step up in urgency compared to their normal alarm calls. Whenever I hear it, I get the camera out...
Wow, very impressed with all the knowledge about the sparrowhawk - learnt a lot about how it predates other birds and I know its just it s nature so will leave things as they are Will not serve any eviction notice on it - however , if it gets the nuthatches I will personally pack its bags !! They ve only just made an appearance this year and only ever appear together - love watching them scuttle headfirst down the trellis . Love to get some photos but they are just so quick ! Are these visitors or are they present all year round ?
I recall the RSPB saying that if you have sparrowhawks, it is a sign of a healthy bird population - so feeding the birds encourages the avian diversity.
btw nuthatches are wonderful to watch. In my previous garden we used to see them on next-door's hazel bushes (well, overgrown hedge really!). They are resident in England, as far north, I believe, as the Mersey, and are (were?) rare in Scotland. That's what my bird book (and my Twitcher-neighbour) says, anyway.
We have had one for 2 weeks, birds will hardly come down, it always seems to come in October