Sparrowhawk news

 

At last, a change from trail camera videos!  At one time the garden sparrowhawk(s) dominated this blog but they haven't featured here for a couple of months.

I am now completely unsure about how many sparrowhawks visit the garden, or even if there is currently more than one.  I wrote before about differences in appearance between them but it has become more confusing.  The bird above in the fog is probably the main bird, visiting the garden every day but rarely sitting on the perch for a portrait.  Note he has a prominent supercillium (eyebrow) which is pinkish at the front and white farther back.

The next two photos are both the same bird, taken seconds apart.  The eye looks different in the two photos.  The supercillium is faint in both photos but otherwise he looks like the first one.

The feathers are fluffed up to keep warm but flattened down as he prepares for a strike.  You can see the difference here.

The following day this bird was here, with someone else's feather stuck on his beak.

He was obviously still hungry and was trying to flush out the small birds hiding in the gooseberries.

We have pretty poor weather over the past few weeks with lots of rain and sleet and very little sun which hasn't made photography easy and hasn't encouraged the bird to sit in the rain.

The latest visit was on a worse day with heavy rain and the wind from the north which was a pity as the sparrowhawk was wearing a very exotic five-pointed crown but it was very difficult to get a photo through the rain-streaked window.

So I have given up worrying about whether there is more than one sparrowhawk visiting and I just enjoy seeing them when they are here.