Sparrowhawk hunting at feeder

Thanks Alan,
Yes, there's cover nearby they wait in until the coast is clear.

Out of interest, do Sparrowhawk's live up to their name?
Do they have a preference for Sparrows over other species?
What's the biggest prey they take? There's plenty of Pigeons, Crows and Magpies, even Rabbits and Grey Squirrels amongst the Tits and Finches around the feeder.

Thanks

Thanks Alan,

That's interesting. Haven't seen the resident Dove couple for a while; hope theyr'e safe!

I presume a Great Spotted Woodpecker would therefore be no match for a male Sparrowhawk?

Hoping to see a female Sparrowhawk soon to see the size difference to the male.

The poor Tits were fed up with the Greenfinches presiding over them...

Now they all know the pecking order!

Thanks again

Thanks Alan,
Incredible photos.
Thank you for sharing

Welcome to the Forum, Bricker. At our former house we spent a fortune on sunflower hearts and fed many generations of Collared Doves in hopes that the Sparrow Hawks would prey on them rather than on our smaller birds. On the whole that worked very well--we had up to a dozen Doves visiting the feeders many times. We saw evidence of at least half a dozen Collared Doves taken as prey and only saw one Blackbird taken, although of course, there were most likely some other birds caught by the local Sparrow Hawk pair when we did not happen to be watching. Several times I watched a Sparrow Hawk plucking the feathers from their Dove prey and removing our sunflower hearts from the crop of the Dove before being able to get the prey up off the ground. One took at least 45 minutes before it finally managed to lift the de-feathered and de-sunflower-hearted Dove up into the air and out of the back garden.