sparrowhawk killing a crow

[shivvy]

I have just seen a sparrowhawk kill and eat a crow. I have seen them take smaller birds before but surely it must be rare for them to take a bird as big as a crow?

[Cetti]

It certainly is very unusual shivvy, and I admit this would be a first - for me anyway. The male is far too small, but for the much larger female it's just possible, but even her largest choice of prey would be the Wood pigeon, which is still a lot smaller than the Carrion Crow.

Do you think you might it might have been a male Goshawk? This bird looks very much like a female Sparrowhawk, although much larger and its prey does include Crows.

[Thunderbird+]

When I saw a peregrines taking ducks on TV last week, it dont surpise me that much.

The sparrowhawk must be Raven mad!...sorry :-)

[shivvy]

Cetti - I am in Northern Ireland and I don't think we get goshawks here? I am pretty sure it was a sparrowhawk as I have watched them before at quite close quarters but I just thought it was so bizarre for it to take a crow. In fact the whole incident was very strange. If you have a minute I will tell you about it . . .
It was a quiet morning until all of a sudden all I could hear were the squawks of many many crows. I looked out the window and the sky began to fill with crows and magpies flying round in circles, diving down and back up again and cawing continuously. There must have been easily over 100 of them - the sky was dark with them. It was really weird and I couldn't work out what was going on. The noise was incredible. Underneath the window I saw something moving and saw that it looked like a crow lying on the ground. I thought it had maybe hit power lines or something like that but when I looked out of a different window to get a better view, I saw that it was a bloody sparrowhawk that had it!
They were in a full scale fight, rolling around, batting wings and pecking at each other - the noise was fierce. The crow was fighting like mad but the sparrowhawk did not let go for a second - in fact it was plucking it while the crow was fighting and calling. It must have taken 15 minutes before the crow stopped making any noise. I am not a particular fan of crows but it was horrible to watch and listen to. However, I also know that nature is nature and it is best not to interfere - I don't believe there was anything I could have done anyway. After he stopped cawing, the circling crows and magpies began to disperse. The sparrowhawk was still eating the crow over 1.5 hours later.
I have never seen anything like it.

[Lonnie]

I tend to go along with Cetti here, unless of course, the Crow was ailing, Where I live, any birds of prey, I live, mainly Kestrals, get attacked by the Crows.

As a matter of interst, did you notice if it was hovering before attacking?.

[shivvy]

Hi Lonnie - no, I didn't see anything before the attack.
I am nearly 100% sure it was a sparrowhawk but perhaps it was a jackdaw instead of a crow? Would this be any more likely?

[burnhal]

Goshawks can be found in Ireland. Heres a link to a Goshawk actually killing a crow uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cySSxG4trvw&feature=related
A jackdaw is a possibility if it was a sparrowhawk. How did the two compare for size to each other- if you got a chance to notice!

[Cetti]

That is a truly amazing story shivvy�. and what a privilege to witness an event such as you�ve described! The number of people that would have given their eye teeth to have shared it with you! I do hope you will tell the RSPB or some other bird organization as they will be thrilled (or should be) to know about your sighting. Bloody, I know, but it does have a horrible fascination, doesn�t it, although when I first saw a Sparrowhawk in full killing mode I did have to turn my head at the end.

You obviously know your birds, so a very large female Spawk is the probable contender for the Crow killing, but I have found some good news � It seems that the Goshawk is being seen in Northern Ireland again, especially Antrim, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone and also breeding, which is very encouraging, isn�t it? Thank you so much for sharing your story � and please post anything else you see.

[jules77]

sorry I dont know the answer, but when I read this I thought it said a sparrowhawk and it had killed and eaten a cow!

think I need glasses!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways, my husband is the 'twitcher' our house, and says it would kill and eat anything if it could get it down.

[bensmum]

They will take pigeons so perhaps a crow isn't too much of a surprise although they are more aggressive than pigeons. I was watching the hen sparrohawk in my garden the other day. Birds suddenly flew up in a panic and she was sat calmly on the top of one of the bird feeder poles!.
It is not a nice sight when they kill but they have to eat and this is nature after all.
Lucky you if it was a goshawk though - I would love to see one of those in action in the wild.

[shivvy]

I am delighted that others find this as remarkable as I did. A friend has our camera and I couldn't find the charger for the damn camcorder so I couldn't catch anything on film unfortunately. I will make sure that I don't get caught like that again as I would have loved to have been able to record not just the 2 birds struggling but the sight and sound of the other birds circling overhead. It was like something out of a horror movie and I am not joking when I say that the sky went dark with the number of birds. I presume that they were trying to scare the sparrowhawk off? Do birds go into a pack-type response when one single bird is attacked like this? I have not seen it happening when the sparrowhawk attacks the smaller birds. When that happens, the whole garden goes eerily silent for half an hour after. I would be keen to hear your thoughts on that.
Burnhal - in terms of size I would say that the black coloured bird was definately larger than the sparrowhawk but maybe not by too much.
Am I right in saying that the sparrowhawk opens his wings and covers the kill?
Cetti - should I really phone my local RSPB and tell them about what I saw?

[Cetti]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cySSxG4trvw&feat ure=related
I don't know if you will be able to see this shivvy, but it shows a Goshawk killing a Crow - just to give you an idea of size ratio for both birds.

It would be a good idea to phone your nearest RSPB reserve and let them know what you have seen as they would know for sure the raptors in that particular area - and yes, covering prey with wings is something that hawks do.

I once watched with mouth open as a huge female spawk tried to carry off a young rabbit. As I neared her she looked at me with those fierce yellow eyes, knowing she couldn't fly away holding a rabbit, so she covered it with her wings. Can you believe I had a camera in my hand but was so intent on watching her I forgot to take any pics!!!

[Thunderbird+]

Hi shivvy, While reading your account of the remarkable sight you saw, I got reading in between the lines (right or wrong) and started to think that it all started off by the crows mobbing the spawk, rather than the spawk setting out to prey on a crow and the only way it could get the crows to back off was to kill one. I've often seen crows mobbing much larger birds even herons what are much bigger. The crows seem to get into a vicious frenzy when they do this and it really gets your heart thumping, I always feel supportive to the one thats getting mobbed and find it hard not to step in and interupt and clap my hands to break it up, but "nature in the raw is seldom mild" as they say. Well thats my theory of what was going on.
Apparently the collective noun for a group of crows is a 'murder', sounds pretty apt.
Out of interest, is it the 'hooded or carrion crow you get in that part of Northern Ireland ?

[shivvy]

Hi Cetti - thanks for the useful (if a bit horrific!) video. For sure, my hawk was a lot smaller than that shown. Also the beak/hook nose was different. I am now definately convinced it was a sparrowhawk. Those yellow eyes are so menacing.
Thunderbird - that is so interesting. Maybe the tables did turn on the sparrowhawk and that is fascinating too. What do others think?

When I was a small child I used to do basic bird watching with my father and it always stayed with me. I am not very good at it now but I have recently moved to the country and I cant tell you the joy I get from seeing everything from the common dunnock to pheasants to snipe to goldfinch etc.

[burnhal]

Most raptors open their wings to cover the kill. I am thnking along the same lines as Tbird- a mobbing event that backfired. I always think, despite their size and agility, that corvids are often risking life and limb when they have a go at these efficient killing machines.

[Lonnie]

Hi shivvy,
I asked that, because Sparrowhawks don't hover, as it turns out, neither do Goshawks, but whichever it was, as stated, it was a privilege to see it.

[WendyS]

I've seen our local sparrhawk catch starlings, and on one occasion a collared dove. I imagine that if they are very hungry they will probably attempt to catch something bigger if they think they have a chance of succeeding.