[bedifferent]

I just happened to be looking out of the window and spotted a large grey bird of prey land in a fairly aggressive fashion on our lawn next to our chooks. It was bigger than a kestrel and grey and it splayed its wings out when it was on the ground. Gave the chooks a bit of a fright. Any idea what it might have been?  :?:

[Aunt Sally]

We sometimes get sparrow hawks in our garden

[poultrygeist]

We once had a sparrowhawk on the fence in our previous garden and I was amazed how big it was.

Must have asking the chooks if they'd seen anything small and feathery passing by.

Rob  

[Bodger]

Thats my beach net in the bucket and this is a female sparrow hawk that came to visit us last April. My daughter went outside to snap it with the camera and believe it or not, but the dove that was beneath the hawk flew off looking none the worse for its experience. :shock:

[Lost in France]

I also think it was a sparrow hawk as they're very bold and, if they have prey, they don't fly off till you get very close. Early last year, we had one taking our doves and I chased it several times down the garden till it dropped the dove. Although twice the doves were dead,     the last one was alive but terrible injured.  I reckoned that I was a bigger predator and it would learn that, even if it caught my doves, it wouldn't get to eat them if I was around!! The great thing was that the last dove actually survived despite having had huge chunks of its neck, back and head torn away. We fed it with a syringe, just electrolytes for a few days, and kept her indoors. Feeding her felt like torture as she hated it. She lost sight in one eye so we put her in a large aviary, got her a new mate as her first mate sat and called her which was distressing for her..and us too! She and her new mate have had lots of babies which have been released and she seems fine over a year from the hawk attack!  

Sparrow hawks are aggresive predators but I think a hen would be too big for one to take, although maybe not a chick. They seem to come from nowhere so the other birds don't get a chance to sound the alarm. I love birds but hate sparrowhawks even though they probably just think my doves are their supermarket!!

Judi

[westie]

We have a red kite which flies overhead everyday. It used to scare our hens, but they've got used to it. We also have another bird of prey, but I don't know what it is. Much smaller than the red kite it has a long narrow tail, but it never gets close enough to see it's colours or marking. It hope it stays that way!

[Jellyhead]

We have Red Kites, Black Kites, Hen Harriers, and Buzzards and Kestrels  by the bucket load but so far, probably because of the dogs and cats :?: they haven't been a threat to my chooks. I love watching them in the summer they are beautiful to watch, as long as they keep away from my babies

[poultrygeist]

Only prey bird we got is tawny owls but I would have expected somthing more due to the number of other birds nesting and visiting.

We have all from wrens to wood pigeons with the odd pheasant and magpie thrown in.

Do they need lots of open ground or are they shy of urban areas ?

Rob

[mdueal]

I had the chooks eating from my hand in the garden the other day and was talking to them how you do nd all of a sudden they all ran off for shelter. I had no idea what was going on until i saw what they were looking at - massive bird of prey circling above. Clever chickens!!

[bedifferent]

Yep, thats what it was. a sparrowhawk. Great looking bird. Can hang around our garden any time. Don't think will be any real threat to chooks.

[Aunt Sally]

I think the clue is in their name - unles you have sparrow sized chickens  

[Bodger]

Sparrow hawks will take birds upto the size of a woodpigeon. As with most bird of prey, the female of the species is considerably bigger than the male. They will occasionally strike at smaller chickens and if they do, make quite a mess of them..

[Aunt Sally]

I know that Bodger :roll:  Your picture shows a woodie.

Aunty was trying to be funny dear - Failed eh  :roll:

[8doubles]

I just thought i`d have a look and see if anybody had witnessed  any sparrow hawk - chicken incidents. The local spar female has just shown up again after being absent all winter (apart from a few drops of blood in the snow one day) taking a collared dove from the neighbour`s plum tree , 20ft away from the chooks.
I`m not too concerned as there are plenty of easy doves about for her and her brood ..........unless you know more ?

[anitaws]

Don't know about them with hens but the sparrow hawks round here stick to a good timed routine and similar circuit.  If you've seen one once when you are looking up and remember to look up again at a similar time you nearly always spot one.

I think the males take the smaller birds and the females take the pigeons.

Anita