Death on the bird feeders.
01st May 2021
The male Sparrowhawk that visits our garden is a beautiful bird, that is not a matter for conjecture, but behind those good looks he is a ruthless and consummate killer - of that there can be no doubt.
Yesterday I witnessed this first hand – a few Siskins were coming to feed on a sunflower feeder in my front garden and I was watching this pleasant scene through my kitchen window. Suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere the Sparrowhawk flashed over the wooden garden fence and snatched one of the Siskins off the feeder before they realised what was happening – absolutely no warning or time to react whatsoever. The Siskin was killed in a fraction of a second and that was the only mitigating factor in the whole affair.
The Sparrowhawk’s modus operandi is to fly along the lane below the hedges so he can’t be seen and then at the prime time for him, swoop up over the garden fence and if there are any birds around he has a chance of snatching one of them. There is a low hit rate for this method because obviously if there are no birds on the feeder then it fails. If this type of attack ends in failure he next flies round and round the bushes the birds are hiding in trying to spook them out. However, they know this and they will not move and he then gives up. I don’t like the fact that he kills these and other small birds, but that’s the scheme of things and part of the cycle of both their lives.
Yesterday I witnessed this first hand – a few Siskins were coming to feed on a sunflower feeder in my front garden and I was watching this pleasant scene through my kitchen window. Suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere the Sparrowhawk flashed over the wooden garden fence and snatched one of the Siskins off the feeder before they realised what was happening – absolutely no warning or time to react whatsoever. The Siskin was killed in a fraction of a second and that was the only mitigating factor in the whole affair.
The Sparrowhawk’s modus operandi is to fly along the lane below the hedges so he can’t be seen and then at the prime time for him, swoop up over the garden fence and if there are any birds around he has a chance of snatching one of them. There is a low hit rate for this method because obviously if there are no birds on the feeder then it fails. If this type of attack ends in failure he next flies round and round the bushes the birds are hiding in trying to spook them out. However, they know this and they will not move and he then gives up. I don’t like the fact that he kills these and other small birds, but that’s the scheme of things and part of the cycle of both their lives.