![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Was just taking the dogs out and I stopped to chat with Weed Smoking Neighbour in the car park. Suddenly there was a huge commotion of alarmed blackbird noises in the big dead ivy-wreathed oak tree, and little panicking feathered bodies shot out of it in every direction.
The last little flying body was the cause of all the panic - a sparrowhawk. She was hot on the tail of one of the blackbirds and chased it round the side of the house next door. I couldn't keep them in sight long enough to see if she caught it, and even if I'd had my camera she was here and gone much too fast to be photographed, but I have a perfect image of her in flight burned behind my eyes. Sparrowhawks are not exactly rare around here, but they're shy, fast and sneaky and they're not especially easy to see, especially in the act of chasing something. Made my day.
In the last week I've witnessed frogs spawning, woodpigeons fucking, cock sparrows fighting and magpies gathering nest material. Oh yeah, Spring's here all right!
The last little flying body was the cause of all the panic - a sparrowhawk. She was hot on the tail of one of the blackbirds and chased it round the side of the house next door. I couldn't keep them in sight long enough to see if she caught it, and even if I'd had my camera she was here and gone much too fast to be photographed, but I have a perfect image of her in flight burned behind my eyes. Sparrowhawks are not exactly rare around here, but they're shy, fast and sneaky and they're not especially easy to see, especially in the act of chasing something. Made my day.
In the last week I've witnessed frogs spawning, woodpigeons fucking, cock sparrows fighting and magpies gathering nest material. Oh yeah, Spring's here all right!
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Amazing how all this is brought on by springtime. Can't say that spring makes me any more or less horny than at other times of the year.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
Pink singing it? Eep.
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
From:
no subject
I do see them soaring quite often but I've only seen one hunting twice now. They do it so fast and so discreetly.
From:
no subject
I know every North American hawk there is, but things get confusing when I try learning about European ones.. Here a "sparrow hawk" would be an American kestrel, but your sparrow hawk looks like our Cooper's hawk, which is also shy and eats birds. I'm assuming they're somehow related. But anyway, that's real neat! I'm jealous. =P
From:
no subject
Yes, they are related, and very similar, though the Eurasian Sparrowhawk's a good bit smaller than the Coopers' Hawk. One is Accipiter cooperi and one is Accipiter nisus.