Bird or Photograph

ladysue

ladysue

Suspended / Banned
Messages
4,222
Name
Sue
Edit My Images
Yes
I just heard a blackbird desperately making a warning call so went out in the garden with the dog to chase off any nest raiding cats. I realised it was next door and then saw my neighbour at her bedroom window taking pictures of a sparrow hawk which was obviously after the blackbird's chicks. As we spoke the hawk flew off with a shower of feathers and the blackbird was no more.I didnt see this because there is a high fence and lots of bushes.

Personally, if I see the sparrowhawk I chase her off if I have birds nesting in my garden.

So what would you do? Protect the nesting birds in your garden or take the photo?
 
It's a part of nature, I may not agree with it but I don't think I would have interfered and I would have probably taken a photo give the chance.
However, if it was a cat I would have certainly intervened and if the Sparrow hawk returned to try to take another chick, I would probably try and stop it if I could.

Actually, was it the parent bird that was taken?
If so then I would have certainly intervened as the chicks wouldn't have any chance of survival.
 
Mmmm. Nothing like a bit of deep thinking while I'm having my sarnie. :thinking:

Nature's cruel & wonderful at the same time. Would have to say I wouldn't have interferred. (You would save the bird in your garden just to have the hawk fly off & grab another down the street.) If it was a domestic pet - that would be another story.

Often thought about the wildlife photographers in Africa & the like watching a gazelle getting chased down. Not a job for the faint hearted. And not a good idea to intervene in those circumstances!

A very subjective decision at the end of the day. I don't thinks there's a definitive right or wrong answer. :shrug:
 
You have to be very careful about taking wild birds. Even if the parents have been killed or deserted the chicks. There are laws against this.
If you think the chicks are at risk, contact the RSPB.

The Sparrowhawk will not raid nests. It will take birds in flight, or off the ground by flying low and
fast along hedgerows, garden fences etc, and flipping over them and surprising its target.
 
Personally, I'd have to opt for the springwatch approach and not interfere. Nature has a great way of balancing itself out, Owls for example will lay extra eggs if food if in abundance, and fewer if food is scarce. Its only when man becomes involved that the balance is knocked out.

As difficult as it would be, I'd let the sparrowhawk do as it has been doing for years, as Tom put it, scaring it out of one garden to take a bird from next door.

Certainly thought provoking, but I'd opt for letting nature take its course.
 
I would feel pretty bad if the hawk died of starvation because my interference robbed it of a meal, so I'd probably just let it take a shot at the blackbird and go hungry only if it wasn't fast enough. Might do something with the chicks if a second parent never came to feed them though.
 
Can you send the hawk my way, There are one or two blackbirds that it can have round my way. !!!

I might be able to sleep after 3.40am if that was the case - sodding noisy buggers!!!
 
If in my garden I'd interfere - purely because of the bloody mess they leave afte a kill.
Anyone else's garden I'd let them get on with it.
 
I think I would say the same, nature is nature, leave it be - I see to much interference these days.
 
I've got a sparrow hawk around my house. At the moment it's taking the blackbirds and sparrows that I've been feeding for ages. All I'm left with is the debris on the grass, usually wings and a head, the odd entrail.

Last weekend it swooped low over my head chasing a sparrow which made it into a bush for safety, but 10 mins later had another which was still screeching as the hawk made off with it.
 
Thanks for all the comments.

I know that sparrowhawks have to live and they have chicks to feed too. I just prefer it if they dont kill the birds in my garden.As much as I would like to get a photo of the sparrowhawk I dont think I will because my instinct is to shoo it off.

I saw a sparrowhawk tear apart one of my sparrows on my bird table one day. It was horrible. Cause I am disabled I wasnt fast enough to save the sparrow.Now that one today has killed the blackbird in my neighbours garden. I dont know if there were chicks it was protecting.There are several blackbirds in our two gardens so it may be that it wasnt a parent that was killed.

I have been enjoying the webcam that Ven has set up in a blue tits nest. I hope there are no sparrowhawks waiting to get those chicks when they are ready to fly.
 
It can be tricky, but on balance I would probably have left well alone.

You may get a nice warm feeling if you fend the hawk off, thinking that by intervening you have saved the lives of the blackbird chicks, but who is to say that a consequence of your actions may be that the lives of the sparrow hawks chicks are endangered because they won't get fed?
 
Not wanting to seem chauvinistic, but it is a womans natural intention to want to protect their young....so I fully understand why you would want to save the chicks.
That being said you have to let nature take it's course unfortunately.
 
let nature take its course...otherwise you disturb a food chain
all nature produces more of a species to allow for that
extinction and low numbers usually come from man's interference

if there were no human race there would be no rspb etc...and things would go on just fine..including the atmosphere
 
jabbermack said:
Not wanting to seem chauvinistic, but it is a womans natural intention to want to protect their young....so I fully understand why you would want to save the chicks.
That being said you have to let nature take it's course unfortunately.
Click to expand...

Its also quite ironic that in most predatory species the female is also usually the hunter, the sparrow hawk was most likely the hen bird after a kill for her own chicks, this is the same for many animals too numerous to list, I for one do a lot of vermin control with ferrets , we always use Jills (female) as the Hobs (male) are very often reasonably useless.
 
Geordi69 said:
Can you send the hawk my way, There are one or two blackbirds that it can have round my way. !!!

I might be able to sleep after 3.40am if that was the case - sodding noisy buggers!!!
Click to expand...

You never heard of ear plugs ? They work wonders. Can't hear wifey snoring either !!!
Result !:clap:
 
mrcrow said:
let nature take its course...otherwise you disturb a food chain
all nature produces more of a species to allow for that
extinction and low numbers usually come from man's interference

if there were no human race there would be no rspb etc...and things would go on just fine..including the atmosphere
Click to expand...


:agree:

in fact there is a series of videos on youtube called life after people, that shows in theory what would happen to the earth if humans disappeared.
Very thought provoking :)
 
Scarecrow said:
It can be tricky, but on balance I would probably have left well alone.

You may get a nice warm feeling if you fend the hawk off, thinking that by intervening you have saved the lives of the blackbird chicks, but who is to say that a consequence of your actions may be that the lives of the sparrow hawks chicks are endangered because they won't get fed?
Click to expand...

I agree completely with Scarecrow and that's what I would do ....however I would still find it tough and would be fighting my instincts all the way.
If I did manage to grab the camera in time the shots would probably not be the best due to shake (as I've discovered a couple of times in the past with wildlife photography, it's not easy to shoot when your sobbing!):'(
 
I have blue tits, robins, wrens, blackbirds and possibly song thrush nesting in the garden at the moment. I provide food for them and still get great enjoyment from seeing the local sparrowhawks.
Like a lot of people say, its nature. I just think its a hard to draw the line and say you want some of it but not the nasty bits! At the end of the day its why the blue tits are feeding 8 young at the mo All they need is two to just replace the parents and the population stays stable.
 
I would not scare off a sparrowhawk.

If scaring off prevents the attack there could, as has been suggested already, an impact on the sparrowhawk young. If by scaring off the sparrowhawk releases its catch then there is the same impact and a good chance the prey bird will die anyway.

The smaller garden birds are a delight but if we stop a sparrowhawk catching them should we stop a great tit from beating a caterpillar to death or a blackbird pulling a worm from the lawn.

Dave
 
I've had this dilemma my self numerous times, as we seem to be having a Sparrowhawk population explosion around this area at the moment.

Over the past 3 years I have seen a young thrush, blackbird and two ring necked doves taken from our garden. These are just the ones that I have witnessed while at home.

My parents emailed a picture they took, when a sparrowhawk hit their window while trying to fly off with a dove last week. It was dazzed but unhurt and after a while/rest flew away.

PS The dove survived too :)

Here is one of the pictures they sent:
sparrowhawk.jpg
 
Im not sure if its my recent interest in photography (I now cant look at anything without disecting the landscape looking for a photo opp lol) but I have suddenly noticed birds of prey everywhere I go.

I used to just see the odd kestrel whil driving around but these days im seeing buzzards, sparrowhawks, kites etc etc.

Anyhow back to your question, as cruel as it sounds I wouldn't intervene. In fact I would reach for my camera and try to photo the bird as he/she pounces.

Nature does not have a concience. It can be incredibly cruel (if you want to see how cruel nature can be google `Ant Fungus` it will make your skin crawl!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top