bird identification

[di1411]

Despite having a small suburban garden, we get a lot of one-off visits from unexpected birds. This morning we've been watching a very large bird which seems to have breakfasted on one of our starlings (though could be the local cat wot did it!)

The odd thing was tha it had all the colourings and characterisics of a pheasant, but looked too big, too round and was clearly in a very mean mood! I would have said it was a game bird, husband swears it was some sort of hawk. Any helpful suggestions?

[allotment10]

http://www.haworth-village.org.uk/nature/pictu res/large-insects.asp?pic=57

could have been this, i've only ever seen one on the allotment a couple of years ago, stared straight at me, gave me the creeps!!

[allotment10]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfile s/240.shtml

better pictures.

[di1411]

Thanks, aloltment10, but it definitely wasn't one of those. My bird had brown, mottled pumage, a long thin tail, had a blue collar (with a hint of white?) and red round the eyes. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Lonnie]

It sounds a bit like a Kestral, have a look at the description on this site.

http://www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/kestrel.ht m

[gen2]

The pictures of sparrowhawks posted above were all of females. The colouring of the male is different with quite pronounced orange around the throat (it is also smaller than the female). I still think it is most likely to be sparrowhawks in your garden. Kestrels are smaller and go for smaller prey than starlings. Other possible birds of prey that are seen in towns more frequently are peregrine falcons (mostly feed on pigeons) and buzzards.

here is a link to a male sparrowhawk
http://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/spar_sr180_tcm3- 93710.jpg