Sparrowhawk update

A bit more news, mainly because I have more photos from the weekend.  The adult male bird turned up yesterday after the rain and sat on the perch for about an hour.  He was alert (ie hungry) but also sat for much of the time with his tail feathers spread out like this.  I have seen it briefly occasionally with previous birds but not like this.  I am not sure if he was drying his tail or was showing off.

After watching the corralled small birds for a long time he eventually launched an attack.

If a strike is unsuccessful he will often return to the perch within seconds so I wasn't surprised when a sparrowhawk landed 30 seconds later.  But I was astonished to see it was the juvenile!

He must have been watching from up in my neighbour's ash tree, from where there is a good view across the garden, and decided to move in as soon as the perch was vacant.  This is the closest I have been to seeing two birds together. It does suggest the older bird is dominant, or perhaps he just got here first.  It occurs to me also that the older bird might have been aware that the youngster was watching and that his tail spread might have been a display of dominance.