Deathstrike

It's easy to admire birds of prey when you see them.  I've taken photographs of sparrowhawks before (click on the label at the bottom of the post) and their appearances around the garden have been more frequent in the past weeks but as far as we've witnessed one has never managed to take out a bird around the feeders.

On Friday, one got lucky.  Terry took these photos after witnessing a sparrowhawk crash into the kitchen window with it's prey gripped in it's claws.  Fortunately, I had left the camera in the kitchen as I had been taking a few shots of different birds on the window feeder before I left for work.  He managed to snap a couple of pics before the bird took off with the blackbird it had grabbed on the wing.

Taking a Breather

Living where we do in a semi rural location, Sparrowhawks are frequent visitors.  The problem is when we do see them they tend to be travelling at speed, swooping in low from around the side of the house to try and catch any unwary birds on the feeders.  Their appearances are fleeting  (the best pictures I have managed of a Sparrowhawk previously can be found here)

Earlier this week, we where having a little lunch  in the kitchen and as I got up to put the plates in the dishwasher I spotted movement, something large which I presumed to be a Woodpigeon dropping into the garden.  As I neared the window I spotted the Sparrowhawk, sitting on the edge of the bird bath.

The camera was close at hand and as I have said before, one of the problems with the Olympus Pen EPL1 is that the menu system isn't really conducive to changing settings on the quick.  I didn't expect our visitor to be around for very long, so most of the photographs taken with it on the birdbath where from further back in the kitchen, shooting between a plant and scales, and also through glass.  There were a lot of hopeless shots, but I did manage to get a couple of decent ones.

Watching the Watchers

To our surprise, the bird didn't seem to be perturbed that we were watching it.  It sat quite happily with it's tail feathers dipped in the water bath and occasionally looked our way.

After a few minutes it hopped up onto the hedge, allowing me to get some better shots.

Sparrowhawk

We have a lot of bird feeders in the garden and it's always a pleasure to see the variety of British birds taking advantage of the free meal.  I've been told that if you see a lot of birds in the garden then you have a healthy garden. The downside of this (for the birds anyway) are the predators they attract.  Kestrels and Sparrowhawks are usually moving so fast that you hardly have time to register them let alone train a camera on them.  I was fortunate with this one.  I actually had the camera in my hand after trying to photograph something else when it swooped into the garden.  The Sparrowhawk was very obliging and stayed put for almost five minutes and seemed quite tolerant of me being nearby.