I hadn't seen the sparrowhawk for a while but he has been back several times this week, including almost all of today. He spends up to an hour or more at a time sitting on the perch by one of the feeders, usually very alert and scanning incoming small birds to judge whether an attack might succeed. Sometimes he is more interested in preening and stretching but I am sure he still has at least one eye on potential prey.
The neck mobility of the sparrowhawk is extraordinary. Like an owl, he can turn more than 180° in either direction. In these next two photos he is looking over his right shoulder (you'll have to take my word for it).
The photos are taken through the window glass at a range of 3m using a 70-200mm lens at 175mm. I presume this is the same juvenile that was here a few weeks ago. I have also seen (separately) an adult male, an adult female and a juvenile female in the garden in the past three weeks or so. I expect the adult pair may be the same two that have been displaying over the woods in Gosforth Park this week - only a few moments away as the sparrowhawk flies.
Wow, your sparrowhawk's neck mobility is indeed remarkable! Puts scanning for prey well into a class of excellence.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing to watch Florence. I'll try to catch it on video.
ReplyDeletestunning bird
ReplyDelete