Skilled hunter
Witnessing a Sparrowhawk capture its prey is always a mesmerising spectacle, which many of you will have experienced in your own back gardens
The spectacle of a Sparrowhawk catching its next meal is a thrilling one that many of us have enjoyed in our own gardens
The Wren spotted it first. The little bird feeding unseen in the bushes suddenly started to tick harshly, the next second, a Blackbird burst into noisy panic and, just as I began to comprehend the bird noises around me, I saw it, too, ghosting past me, as I stood in the flower bed. A flash of blue-grey wings, with a long barred tail gliding quickly past me, before it vanished in the tangled web of Hawthorn branches on the edge of the garden.
Gone in the time it would take me to say its name, a Sparrowhawk, a predator in my garden, an exhilarating glimpse of nature in action. Sparrowhawks really are brilliant birds, beautiful raptors, the apex predator of many a garden, and I had just had one fly within a few centimetres of me. I was buzzing.
The Sparrowhawk is one of our commonest raptors, with an estimated 35,000 pairs spread all over the country. They are a bird that we birdwatchers frequently encounter, be it in our gardens, on our patch, or when looking out of the bird hide at our nearest reserve. This year, and for the previous two, they were the first raptor on my My 200 Bird Year list. They are birds that I see frequently, but they are birds that I will never tire of seeing.
And we shouldn’t take them for granted. It is easy to forget now just how uncommon these small raptors had become only a few decades ago, when our use of lethal chemicals in agriculture decimated their population. The bird virtually disappeared from many areas of the country, becoming a very rare bird in areas such as the East Midlands and East
Anglia. But, thankfully, with the banning of these chemicals, the Sparrowhawk (and many other species) has recovered. With their recovery and the subsequent increased frequency in garden sightings, a confused controversy has also arisen, with some people misguidedly blaming the Sparrowhawk for the decline in many small birds. Sparrowhawks kill small birds (the clue is in the name!), but they are part of the natural balance between predator and prey, a balance that is only upset by us and our actions.
With a total population of between 70-80,000 birds across the whole of the British Isles, the Sparrowhawk may be common in birding terms but, in reality, it is thinly scattered across the nation. We need to look at ourselves if we want something to blame for the decline in small birds. We need to look at how we manage our land and the environment, be that in agriculture or in our gardens. And to put the number of Sparrowhawks into perspective, there are at least 10,900,000 domestic cats in the UK, compared with only 75,000 or so Sparrowhawks.
A mature male Sparrowhawk is one of our most attractive birds, its bluish grey back and wings contrasting with the orange-tinged breast and face make it a bird to admire. The females are more brown in coloration, with clear barring across the white front of the bird; and they have a very distinct supercillium above the eye, giving them a fiercer look than the male.
The main difference between the sexes, though, is their size. As is typical of birds of prey, the female is larger than the male, being up to 25% larger. This sexual dimorphism allows the pair to exploit a wide range of prey species when they are rearing young, with the male concentrating on sparrow-sized birds and the female on thrushes and pigeons.
The young hatch in May, but the first few months after they fledge are tough, and only about a third of the young that hatch will make it to the following year, with starvation and bad weather the main causes of mortality. If they survive, the young are capable of breeding the following spring. But not all birds do, and where breeding opportunities are limited they may wait until their second year to do so. Despite records showing that Sparrowhawks are capable of living for up to 17 years, ringing data shows that the typical lifespan for these small raptors is only four years.
They are woodland birds and are perfectly adapted to hunting among trees. Their broad wings are relatively short and rounded, allowing them to turn on the power in the confined spaces of woods and forests. Their tail is long, acting like a rudder, which gives them high manoeuverability when in pursuit of their prey, allowing them to make sharp turns with ease. When hunting, the birds use the cover in woodland to conceal their approach, surprising small birds with a sudden high-speed appearance before using their agility to snatch their prey.
This approach, and their adaptations, also lends itself to hunting in gardens, where fences, hedges and houses provide cover for their stealth approach. Despite their adaptations, though, it is estimated that only about 10% of feeding attempts are successful.
Our gardens can give us birdwatchers great opportunities to observe bird behaviour close up. Raptors can often be difficult to watch at close quarters, but with Sparrowhawks readily using gardens, we can see some surprising and interesting behaviour from the comfort of our own homes. One of the Sparrowhawk’s lesser-known hunting techniques is hunting on foot, and it is a technique that I have only observed in gardens.
I saw it for the first time several years ago. I happened to look out of a window in a house I was living in at the time to see a female Sparrowhawk striding across the
THE FIRST FEW MONTHS AFTER THEY FLEDGE ARE TOUGH – ONLY A THIRD WILL MAKE IT TO THE FOLLOWING YEAR
lawn on her long legs. She was very purposeful in appearance and was heading straight towards a small compact rounded shrub on the edge of the grass. When she got there, she peered into its midst before adjusting her position and quickly thrusting one of her knitting needle thin legs deep within the bush. She evidently missed her target though and withdrew her leg. She then walked around to the other side and again stabbed her leg rapidly into the confines of the shrub. I could make out movement within the shrub as the Sparrowhawk’s intended snack desperately tried to avoid the leg and its razor-sharp taloned foot that was by now being repeatedly thrust towards it.
This went on for several minutes, the Sparrowhawk staring into the bush before attempting to grab the bird within with its long leg. When it failed to connect it would change position to try a different angle. At all times the raptor appeared perfectly relaxed hunting on foot, while the small bird hiding in the shrub managed to continuously evade it. I am not sure how long this would have continued, I suspect the small bird would eventually have lost its nerve and flown from the bush, presenting the female hawk with an opportunity. But the raptor was disturbed by an approaching postman and she disappeared over the gardens, enabling a small, and no doubt very much relieved,
House Sparrow, the opportunity to escape!
They may be common, but I always get a rush of excitement when I see these predators. Sometimes you only see them for a split second, at other times you can get prolonged views, but every time I see one, the result is always the same – a very happy birder!
WHEN HUNTING, THEY USE THE COVER IN WOODLAND TO CONCEAL THEIR APPROACH, SURPRISING SMALL BIRDS