guest for lunch

Carrot · 24 Apr 2006 at 19:42

Marik said:
I have discsussed this, and we think its a Peregrine Female

I think the pattern on the head's wrong for it to be a Peregrine, besides which they're really rather rare, as are goshawks, so it's much more likely to be sparrowhawk.

Nice catch (sorry, couldnt resist!) BTW, mrgubby!

I saw one of these take a sparrow off our washing line a couple of months ago. I was so gobsmacked that by the time I'd thought to go and get the camera it had flown off.

mrgubby · 24 Apr 2006 at 20:19

Thanks for the comments

I believe it's a female SparrowHawk , Yellow eyes and large enough to take down a collared dove according to the books.

I was sitting looking out the french windows building a Cuprinol fence sprayer (great toy btw) when the hawk/dove hit the patio in a mess of feathers . After a bit of :eek:

I got up and legged it to get the camera , when I got back it had gone

so back to building the sprayer...

Finished the sprayer so went out onto the patio only to hear all the local birds making their alarm calls. Looked around expecting to see the neighbours cat only to find the Hawk eating at the side of the garden about 15m away, so back in for the camera....

Camera set to 1/320tv and ISO400 and I wriggled out the door on my belly and slid under the patio furniture . The hawk kept looking at me (I've heard they have good eyesight...) but didn't seem that bothered, so I got up and walked slowly towards it, edging to the right to get better light all the time snapping away.

Still it didn't move..

So I sat down & just watched it have lunch :cool:

.

It was absolutely ******** brilliant

Joe T · 24 Apr 2006 at 20:22

Great story buddy!

Zheka · 24 Apr 2006 at 20:34

mrgubby said:
and I wriggled out the door on my belly and slid under the patio furniture .

haha, best part for me, shame no pictures of you

Please post more shots mrgubby

A.N.Other · 24 Apr 2006 at 20:36

Excellent shot there! Very clear - especially the eye. The focus is really spot on.

Its definitely a female sparrowhawk! I've disected enough of them to know

They do indeed have excellent eyesight - the peregrine has eyesight eight times better than our own and can see prey at several miles.

mrgubby · 24 Apr 2006 at 20:44

Another shot to give an idea of size/scale.

Full frame @ 300mm hand held.

Zheka · 24 Apr 2006 at 20:51

Beautiful bird, well done.

Colin_da_Killer · 24 Apr 2006 at 20:57

I have to agree that its a peregrin falcon (female). It's not a sparrowhawk.

nolimit · 24 Apr 2006 at 21:00

amazing shot. amazing story and amazing garden.

Carrot · 24 Apr 2006 at 21:13

A.N.Other said:
Excellent shot there! Very clear - especially the eye. The focus is really sopt on.

Its definitely a female peregrine! I've disected enough of them to know

I'm intrigued now as to how you tell the difference. It's just to me mrgubby's speciment looks more like this than this. Do all peregrines not have the 'hood' type thing going on? I'm not questioning your ID, here just genuinely interested.

Marik · 24 Apr 2006 at 21:36

I only say its a perigrine female, becuase a mate of mine is a bird of prey expert dude thing, and he says it's to big for a sparrowhawk :/

Sorry f-stop

Didn't mean to sounds offensive

Dan

BrenOS · 24 Apr 2006 at 22:15

Great shot. It's a perigrine btw.

mrgubby · 24 Apr 2006 at 22:39

SparrowHawk

Peregrine Falcons:

Description: dark crown, 'moustache' cheek pattern & grey upper parts. White underparts are barred with black. Female more strongly barred and also larger than male.

Size: length: 38 - 48cm. wingspan: 95 - 110cm.

Much bigger than the bird in my garden, also all the Peregrine photos I can find have solid dark eyes.

If somebody can convince me its a Peregrine I'll be very happy , it would really **** off the neighbours (Simon I mean you

) up the road if I had one in my garden.

Carrot · 24 Apr 2006 at 23:01

This is the closest I can find to a peregrine that looks like your photo. I'm still not convinced. Especially since I've found photos and descriptions that describe a female sparrowhawk as looking like the bird in your garden and being large enough to "hunt larger birds including collared doves, thrushes and starlings." :s

mrgubby · 24 Apr 2006 at 23:04

Carrot said:
This is the closest I can find to a peregrine that looks like your photo. I'm still not convinced. Especially since I've found photos and descriptions that describe a female sparrowhawk as looking like the bird in your garden and being large enough to "hunt larger birds including collared doves, thrushes and starlings." :s

Yup, all the descriptions/photos I've found show Female sparrowhawks with yellow eyes & Males orange.

A.N.Other · 24 Apr 2006 at 23:24

It is a sparrowhawk. Sorry i wasn't concentrating when I was typing earlier

She isn't that big for a female - they are far bigger than the males (about 1.5 - 2 times the weight depending on the season). The chest is very similar between the two species, but the eyes are the decider (the sparrowhawk has a large yellow band compared to a thin one in the peregrine).

@ Carrot - you were quite right to doubt by ID

even though you didn't say it

Anyway, we're de-railing the thread people. Back to the EXCELLENT shots.

Carrot · 24 Apr 2006 at 23:41

A.N.Other said:
@ Carrot - you were quite right to doubt by ID even though you didn't say it

Hehe, I'm too polite for my own good sometimes.

Agreed on the quality of the shots, the first is soooo sharp and the pose is exquisite. I'm so jealous! I want my sparrowhawk to come back when I've got my camera ready for it.