Sparrowhawk Vs Squirrel !!!!!!

Good grief Lynette, what a thing to witness, no wonder you were in shock. You expect them to take birds, but a squirrel! What a pity you didn't manage a photo.

Unknown said:

Sparrowhawks are the 'canaries' of urban eco-systems.  If they are hunting in the area, it's a very good sign that the area has a healthy wildlife population - with a good prey v predator ratio ie. where there's prey there's predators.

Hopefully, with more and more people feeding garden birds now, they will also come to accept that a hunting Sparrowhawk is a natural and welcome addition to their garden birds (even if it does run off with their favorite Mrs Blackbird!).   More times than not, Sparrowhawk attacks end up with empty talons but it's worth bearing in mind, chasing a Sparrowhawk out of the garden could be a matter of death by starvation for that individual Sparrowhawk in the winter, and a matter of death for the chicks it must keep fed in the breeding season.  Interrupting a Sparrowhawk when attacking, could also result in a seriously and fatally injured mammal/bird that ends up dying anyway, possibly very slowly, while the Sparrowhawk still goes hungry - a no win situation.  It's best to shut your eyes and hold your breath til it's over if you're squeamish or sentimental about these things - or take some photos from a safe distance if you're not!!!

Very well said, I couldn't agree more.

I am really interested in the replies received. I didn't even think about the Squirrel as a threat to the Sparrowhawks food chain but you are correct as all the birds, even the bossy Starlings disappear when the Squirrel is on the scene. I admit I did find the the first ever Sparrowhawk kill in my garden somewhat distressing but on no occasion would I have intervened. Today, with the squirrel incident, after the squirrel had managed to escape, the Sparrowhawk just sat for a while on my ground feeder and yes I did feel incredibly bad shooing it out, but under no circumstances would I have done it during it's hunting, and never intervened when it was attacing the Squirrel. I have to say that today's incident has helped me to find a new level of respect for this bird. I understand that this is the natural way of the food chain and is something that I will get used to. It is a beautiful bird and I watched it with complete and utter awe. I suppose their presence is a sign of the good work I am doing. I need to detatch my emotions and i'm sure given time I can do that. But please be assured that I would never and have never intervened during a Sparrowhawk attack, regardless of how upsetting that first kill was at the end of the day it's nature and I completely understand.

The first and only time I have witnessed a sparrowhawk attack I was stunned into silence with my mouth wide open. It was so unexpected, so fast, and so emotional as she dived straight into my hedge, emerging immediately at the top of the hedge carrying off one of my precious sparrows. I was quite close to it all, but out of sight of the sparrowhawk when she flew down the side of my house towards the hedge. She must have clocked me when she flew past, and this must be why she carried the sparrow off with her, rather than land and eat it. The whole episode took a second, but I was still standing open mouthed 10 minutes later! It did shake me up, but I gave myself a good talking to about it being nature and how the sparrowhawk also needs to eat. I have seen her 3 times since, but on each occasion she has been unlucky.

I'm going to be honest. I don't think a lot of info I have read from another bird care sight has given me the best opinion of this bird. I have read and heard so much negativity on them. The very first time he visited my garden I had no idea what breed of bird he was (new to bird watching) but I was so excited. I remember watching him sitting on my fence with my daughter and we were spell bound. Such a beautiful bird. We were entranced. I never saw him catch anything that day. I did some research on him and found out his breed but read nothing but negative comments about them. Seems they are the Marmite of the bird world. When he returned on a later date he spent a good 10mins trying to chase this fledgling Sparrow out of the tree and Myself and daughter where amazed at the flying skills of this quite large bird in such a small garden and I was so in awe of it until it caught the Sparrow and I did feel really upset and I think I allowed a lot of negativity from this other forum to enhance that upset.  I think today's experience has helped to regain a lot of that respect back.

Excellent reply to this post Sussex Birder.

As with a lot of birds of prey, they always seem to get bad press?

I have witnessed many kills and I'm always in awe of these magnificent birds.

A fortnight ago whilst photographing Snow Buntings, a Peregrine appeared and was hunting the coastline it also made a kill and again I was in awe of it.

Watching it drop from the sky like a missile was incredible.

I was going to insert a photo of a Sparrowhawk kill which I took a few years ago's into this thread!!!

I have uploaded numerous to my gallery. please have a look at them.

Regards Buzzard