Wednesday 25 April 2012

Another absolute shocker of a spring day with heavy rain all morning followed by hefty showers and a strong wind for the afternoon. Needless to say, that stopped any thought of going out for a patch visit today, it's not so much the getting wet, but in that kind of weather little can be expected of any note  :-(

So the afternoon was spent watching the garden, where as usual when the weather is like todays, the SPARROWHAWK sets up residence, until finally getting it's lunch. Unfortunately todays lunch was one of only two STARLINGS that feed in my garden, more unfortunately, this was probably one of the pair nesting in my roof, a sad demise to a rapidly dwindling bird on my patch  :-(

As the Sprawk was the only bird showing, I tried to get some shots of it, the first two were taken as it made a failed attempt to make a kill early in the afternoon, the other shots are of it eating the Starling an hour later. A shame I had to take the photo's through rain splattered double glazing ! Also a shame that the sprawk chose to eat its meal behind that green pole!   :-)
Sprawk
Just look at the razor sharp talons on that!
The Starling had already been dragged to the nearby pond and drowned, then as the Sprawk started eating a hefty shower passed over, making photography difficult to say the least
I was down to a 30th of a second shutter speed, at ISO 1000, aperture F6.3 and through wet double glazing, its amazing how well the photo's turned out!
The shower passed over and a glimpse of sun back lit the scene
The Sprawk was sat here eating for 40 mins, finally taking off with the remains of the Starling to go elsewhere.

12 comments:

Warren Baker said...

I'm getting more fed up by the day Steve, who the hell started shouting ''drought'' about!

Lancs and Lakes Outback Adventure Wildlife Safaris said...

Drought; hose pipe ban...of course it's gonna rain...

Cheers

Davo

Marc Heath said...

Well Mr Sparrowhawk, another couple of excellent shots, well done. I don't think I've ever had the chance to photograph one on the deck.

Warren Baker said...

Marc,
I get more chances to photograph the Sprawk in my garden than I do House Sparrows in my garden :-)

Anonymous said...

"but in that kind of weather little can be expected of any note"

Think again, Warren. Arctic Terns & Little Gulls galore up here. Pity i didn`t see any of either.

Ken. said...

Warren.
You did very well shooting through the double glazing in this weather. Love the shots of the Sprawk especially the close up of it's head.
Hope you get out and about soon.

Ken. said...

Warren.
You did very well shooting through the double glazing in this weather. Love the shots of the Sprawk especially the close up of it's head.
Hope you get out and about soon.

Rohrerbot said...

Warren, those are excellent shots. Send them into your local police department to have this killer taken away:) Nature is brutal....dragged and drowned....sounds like a terrible life. Mr. Sprawk should come to Arizona and take care of our Starling issues. They don't belong here and they take our native birds nests away.....:) Fun post!

Alan Pavey said...

Those shots are stunning mate!

ShySongbird said...

Impressive photos Warren! It's quite a sight and a scene I've witnessed too, one I prefer not to see in my garden too often though!

Ornitocampero.blogspot.com.es said...

Weel done!!
I saw a sparrhwk hubting a starling las t year, is was crude but nature is like that.i dont imagine something more cruel than eating a creature while is still alive,,,but that was it!
Saludos.

Millhouse Photography said...

Hi Warren

These are superbly intimate shots of one of my favourite creatures.

Embrace the Sparrowhawk!

Not seen one for ages!