Birds Sparrowhawk in my garden.

[Uncle Kevriano]

Over the last few weeks we have seen a Sparrowhawk in the garden a couple of times, but never with a kill, until last week when this female caught a Starling and stayed for nearly 4 hours gradually taking it apart. Given the poor light/ high ISO I could not be happier with these shots really. The close cropped shot (shot 2) isn't the best, but it does show the fear in the Starling as it looked into the eye of the Sprawk (terrible shortening of the name). Truly amazing to witness. I will post another set of pics eventually, I did take 1300 shots

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/9
• 1/800 sec
• ISO 10000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/9
• 1/800 sec
• ISO 10000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/9
• 1/800 sec
• ISO 10000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/9
• 1/800 sec
• ISO 10000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/9
• 1/800 sec
• ISO 10000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 10000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/800 sec
• ISO 8000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/640 sec
• ISO 6400

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 8000

• ILCE-7RM4
• FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/6.3
• 1/640 sec
• ISO 10000

 

[Jeff A]

Not exactly a quick and painless kill, but that is nature.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Not exactly a quick and painless kill, but that is nature.

No. It took probably 5 minutes to kill the Starling, probably because they are quite a powerful and violent bird themselves. No match for a female Sparrowhawk though. She is capable of taking a pigeon.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

grim, but that's nature... and good quality photos too.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Cheers Jeff, Tim and Chris.

 

[pointreyes]

I also want to give a thumbs up to the Sparrowhawk.
Where I live, the Starling is a pest.

 

[Jeff A]

I also want to give a thumbs up to the Sparrowhawk.
Where I live, the Starling is a pest.

Aren't they a pest everywhere?

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Aren't they a pest everywhere?

Not really considered a pest here, they are also in decline, but they do eat an awful lot and also chase off and kill smaller birds.

 

[Sdawes]

Great action sequence Kev

 

[Tim Mayo]

Cracking shots Kev! Must have felt quite safe in your garden to stay so long. Doesn't look like a lot was left!

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Cracking shots Kev! Must have felt quite safe in your garden to stay so long. Doesn't look like a lot was left!

Thanks Tim. Yes, definitely felt safe, even with my wife and I 30 feet away with the cameras (freezing our bits off!, It couldn't have picked a sunny day!). Certainly little left, and she flew off with that carcass in the last shot.