Sparowhawk

[Gerry]

This morning I found a dead sparowhawk on my lawn. It had been killed by something biting its neck by the looks of it as no other damage was evident.

Could it have been over ambitious in what it tackled?

Any theories anyone?

Regards, Gerry.

[glallotments]

Was it an actual bite or was the neck broken - sometimes birds of prey can fly into some obstacle when focusing too much on prey items. We once found a barn owl at a school I taught at - it must have been flying over the rooftop and not noticed that the building was higher in the middle part.

Alternatively I wonder if a fox could have caught it when it was grounded eating prey?

[Monika]

I am with GL about the broken neck theory - we have had a number of sparrowhawks flying into windows in recent years, usually in pursuit of a bird. But, obviously, if there are visible bite marks that could not be.

[Gerry]

There was no definate bite mark but the neck was bare with blood on it and the feathers from the neck on the grass next to the bird. There are no obsticles for it to fly into except the house which is about 25yds from where it lay. A fox catching it eating seems most likely but would a fox cover 15yds in the open before the hawk was aware of it?

Regards, Gerry

[Arnie]

Hi Gerry,

As for the fox covering 15yds not a problem, the problem would be that the sparowhawk might not have been able to retract its tallons quick enough.

Just a thought

Regards

Kevin

[Geoff]

We had a Sparrowhawk visit this evening and leave with I think a Blackbird.

[glallotments]

Could it have been a couple of birds fighting over prey or territory and the one that you found was the loser?

I know birds of prey do sometime decapitate prey so would maybe go for the neck area - just a guess.