Not a sparrowhawk

E39MSport

Hi All,

I have a visitor to the garden (rural Kildare) that I cannot identify for sure.

We have several all year feeders close to hedging providing nuts and sunflower seeds. These bring a healthy population of finches, tits and sparrows, etc

One big plus for me is the frequent visit of a sparrowhawk. This bird appears impervious to my presence when I am watching the garden birds and will swoop in just over my head and hang around if unsuccessful.

Anyway, from time to time, a much larger but similar bird shows up and preys on the garden birds. This guy has a longer grey body, longer tail, much larger bright yellow eyes and very long yellow legs which are feathered at the top half. Obviously a pic would be great but I haven't managed this yet. I think I've seen the same bird with a partner vocally soaring last summer. I have also seen it swooping from a height at incredible speed to catch a swallow in flight.

I'm thinking peregrin but aren't they rock dwellers? I live in a rural location with plenty of broad leaf tree habitat but no cliffs etc.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,
K

stevensi

Sounds like a female Sparrowhawk. The females are larger then the male. Have a look at this site and see if the illustration looks the same. (Female is under pic 2 on the page)

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/s/sparrowhawk/index.asp#

Regards

E39MSport

Ta. I'll keep that in mind next time I see them. Really need to get a pic. Hopefully the weather will pick up so I can spend some time out there.

cuddlycavies

The male is more likely to be grey in colour but quite small.Females are brown with barred underbelly and are considerably larger. Yellowy eye indicates sparrowhawk. Merlins are fairly common in Kildare also.

micf

I thought merlins were smaller than sparrow hawks though. Would it be a male hen harrier?

boneless

Could be a hen harrier all right but the swooping sounds like a peregrine. Any quarries near you? And peregrine will also nest on tall buildings such as churches or old tower houses and castles.

E39MSport

Hiya, no quarries that I am aware of. AND, when I saw 2 of them soaring, they were similar size. The sparrowhawk that I was able to identify was a Lot smaller than the second bird in question.

mackeminexile

Hi, what kind of land do you have around you? Are there forests? The yellow eye and feathered top part of the leg made me think Goshawk. I'm from the Uk so not sure if they're indigenous here. Try this link and see if it looks right. They tend to inhabit woodlands and have a stubbier wing for taking birds and mammals within the tight confines of the trees but would be noticeably larger than a Sparrowhawk.

http://www.toothandclaw.org.uk/upload/files/Goshawk0003.jpg

mackeminexile

Just found this on wikipedia as I was checking to see if they existed in Ireland. Apparently they have repopulated from falconry escapes and 'lost' birds from Europe.

"In the spring breeding season, the Goshawk has a spectacular "rollercoaster" display, and this is the best time to see this secretive forest bird. At this time, the surprisingly gull-like call of this bird is sometimes heard."

This ties in with what you were saying about the vocal calls as you saw two of them.

E39MSport

The land around the house is mostly open fields with some lakes and small woods. The pic doesn;t look like what I saw. Less markings on the chest and more grey. He'd be less bulky than that (pic) bird too.

Thanks for responding.

mackeminexile

I'd e inclined to go with Goshawk then because of the habitat. Also more likely to be targeting small birds than a Peregrine.

stevensi

I would be very surprised if it was Goshawk. Not entirely ruling it out but I believe a Goshawk sigthing would have been reported by now especially if there was two of them soaringaround the skies in Kildare.

I would be nearly 99% sure it's a female sprhawk. As i said they are much bigger then the male and your description was spot on for a female sprhawk..