The local Sparrowhawk has had another successful hit.
Unfortunately this time it was the female Blackbird which I had, in my last post, said was improving nicely after being in poor condition.
After the last Sparrowhawk kill I had restricted table feeding to the front garden where the feeder is almost totally enclosed by twiggy bushes, but restarted the back garden feeder when the weather recently turned poor.
I know that the view is that the kill is what happens in the wild, but I'm now feeling that I was simply tipping the advantage toward the Sparrowhawk by attracting its prey into one predictable area.
4 comments:
Hi Dick
How sad. I remember your posting re. the female Blackbird and what an awful scenario. However you must keep the feeders going during the winter at least. I can understand your thinking but you don't know how many birds you are helping along the way. Just think how much that poor ill fated Blackbird improved, probably with your help, and how much more of a chance you gave it. All our wildlife need a helping hand at this time of year and we can all do our little bit.
Keep up the good work.
John
I know how you feel i just seem to be helping the local Woodpigeon population at the moment. I had 26 of them in the garden yesterday. And like yourself i have had a Sparrowhawk showing alot of interest lately.
Think its best to keep it up though.
Thanks John and Davy. I've continued with the protected front garden feeder and although I have not seen what is feeding, the grub is going -fast.
Dick
I had a spuggy hawk in my garden this morning, brought in by the house sparrows at my feeders. The reality is that birds of prey only need a certain amount of food to thrive and survive and will only take what they need. Think about it like this, when a blackbird 'gets it' in your garden two sparrows in mine get to live another day. I'm guessing the sparrowhawk visits your garden a lot as I'm overun with sparrows :)
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