Australian Collared Sparrowhawk Eating
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- I heard some birds making a little commotion and warning calls in the backyard and went to the door to see what it was about. There was a Kookaburra on the clothesline (hills hoist) looking up into the trees above him. I followed his gaze and spotted a brownish shape quite high up which I thought may have been a pigeon. (my eyes aren't what they used to be) when I saw the other birds were all looking at it and were still agitated, I went a grabbed my camera.
I zoomed in and noticed that it was either a small brown goshawk or a collared sparrowhawk hanging on to a dead bird. (hard to tell them apart), I've seen many Brown and Grey Goshawks and they are generally a fair bit bigger than this little fella. That is the only reason I have for identifying it as a sparrowhawk apart from the slender rather spindly legs.
I attached my dodgy tripod to try and identify the prey. (An Indian Mynah sans head I concluded) I figured it may be of interest to film the bird as a study in how they go about the grisly business of devouring their unlucky prey. The camera didn't want to hold focus because the bird was moving about so quickly. I was surprised at the aggressive way he went at it. I guess he was pretty hungry.
I enjoyed seeing this. You said this Sparrowhawk's prey was a Mynah bird huh? That would be the mimicking type! I wonder if he said to the hawk "No don't eat me hawk!"? That wouldn't have helped! The hawk was indeed pretty hungry! I did notice this hawk was looking around a lot even though it seems like he was eating very quickly! But I wouldn't say he was aggressive at it! He would have still eaten him the same exact way even if he had a half-full crop beforehand.
I don't know whether the Indian mynah bird is a mimicking one but they are an introduced species over here and are considered a pest by most. When I first saw the Sparrowhawk the mynah was already missing its head so not much chance of witnessing the conversation.
This saddened me to the point of tears I have many beautiful wild birds native and feral come to feed. I watch in sheer panic as these birds flee when to me this nuisance unwanted bird terrorizes them even I can't see how anyone finds enjoyment in this my opinion only. That's why I have every deterrent in place to protect our beautiful birds. 8 know it's natural and nature to me it's me worst nightmare.😥🐦🐦🐦😘
You should never call any hawk a "nuisance"! Even though Sparrowhawks only catch birds, they do catch invasive species of birds as well. For example, House Sparrows are an invasive species that will raid Bluebirds nests. They'll knock the eggs out of the nest where they'll splat on the ground. Here's the sad part, the sparrows won't even eat the eggs afterwards! They do that just to get rid of the competition! So if a Sparrowhawk were to catch a House Sparrow, then the hawk would saving the Bluebirds in the process! So there is some good that can come from watching a Sparrowhawk in your backyard. So next time you see one, you should simply just enjoy watching and observing it hunting! I know you got your own opinions, but if you wanted a fair competition between all the birds, you should get rid of those deterrents and let them all thrive. Otherwise, there can an ecosystem change that will be off-balance.
I am glad that I am doing all possible to keep my wild birds safe respect everybody's personal choice and opinion not mine. We want to have the sheer pleasure to watch our birds calm relax and enjoy the peace safe environment we have created for them. No matter what measures I have to be put in place Hawkes belong to the ecosystem just not mine. I watch one carrying off a bird and the other birds trying to rescue it e including myself in was heartwrenching. As I said prior to each their not a fan never will .