Ambush hunter

I reckon this is a good way to kick off the new year on the blog.  The young sparrowhawk is an intermittent visitor to the garden but he is certainly worth watching when he is here.  There have been a few lightning fast raids on the feeders outside the kitchen window which are so quick I can't be sure it is the same bird.  When he is in the kitchen garden, however, he sits in ambush, constantly scanning birds coming in towards the feeder to see if they are in range.  

His attacks are often unsuccessful and he will then choose a different perch, always around the feeder and the gooseberry bushes.

Sometimes he climbs on top of the bushes, frustrated that his prey is just out of reach.

But every now and then he makes a kill and he plucks and eats his prey just where he caught it.  I am hoping to persuade him to do it in a more photogenic setting.

It is interesting that the sparrowhawk doesn't react to me at the window.  Although the window is set up as a hide I do move the camera around etc and yet he doesn't respond (the same amount of movement certainly scares the pigeons and magpies).  Maybe he ignores that kind of movement or maybe he doesn't see it as a threat.  As far as I know I haven't spooked him yet.