Bird Table News » Bird Eating Bird

Sparrowhawks killing every swallow

Trish — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 20:53:46 +0000

Hi Trish,
Did you get my desperate email re the Sparrowhawk taking all our swallows out of their nest and roost and also in flight.

I have made holes in all the barn doors so hopefully the hawk will not get in…what size gap could a hawk get through ?

I am still worries he will get through the gaps as the swallows were very reluctant to go through the gaps instead of having an open door which they much prefer..I had to make the gaps bigger than i wanted just to get them to agree to fly in and out of them.

I know hawks are clever and a male sparrow hawk is not that big..he flies into a barn gap that was made years ago for swallows when the garage doors are shut. He was not afraid..I hope the gaps are small enough.

I can ‘t bear the carnage any longer…just too heartbreaking to see the swallows valiant struggle against such a bird…

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This is the first email that was sent to me -

Hi, I need help regarding sparrow hawks killing all the swallows we have nesting here!

It’s awful. I am a nervous wreck from trying to keep him away.

Up at 5am to help them and hate leaving the house in case he strikes. Usually 5 times a day or more.

Such carnage my heart is breaking for them.

He flies into the barns and just takes females nesting and the young. Then any fledglings in flight. I shut the doors and cut openings for the swallows to come in and out. But am worried the hawk could still get in if he wanted as I had to make long gaps for the swallows to even consider flying through them.

They seemed upset they no longer had open door entrance! I wish I could help them more . i think he will take them all eventually.

Day by day there are fewer and fewer. The swallows mob him but he still can take them in flight if he wants…what else can I do?

Why is there no protection against these birds of prey to help the defenceless. Swallows have such a hard life now made even harde by so many sparrowhawks in uk.

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I replied –

I’m sorry I have been having internet and computer problems and that I didn’t see your email until now

I don’t think there is anything else you could have done. It is brilliant you have tried so much to help.

I know swallows can get through very small holes,but I also think that sparrowhawks can as well.

It must have been so horrible for you seeing it and being so close to it

But we must tell this story so people understand sparrowhawks more and the damage they can do.

I have emailed a group called SongBird Survival

www.songbird-survival.org.uk and I have asked them. They are a lot bigger than I am and are also doing their best for birds.

Here is what the RSPB say about sparrowhawks http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/features/sparrowhawks_songbirds.aspx

If the swallows were frightened and disorientated by the sparrowhawk then they maybe would not fly as well.

What is happening now? Has the sparrowhawk gone.

Could the swallows rear another brood or will the sparrowhawk return

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These two emails were sent to me over a short period when I was having computer problems.

Does anyone know how to keep a sparrowhawk out? What size holes can sparrowhawks fly through.

It is so good of you to spend time and effort and my heart goes out to you. You’ve done all you could and more. Let me know what has happened.

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dead sparrow with brain missing – The answer?

Trish — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:20:56 +0000

Last week Loraine ask me about dead sparrows with brains missing. I did answer her personally. Now I’m putting some details on Bird Table News -

First here is the article -

http://birdtablenews.com/2010/06/dead-sparrows-with-brains-missing/

I did not have a clue what could have happened to these birds so I asked for some advice.

I have had 3 people get in touch. Here they are –
1. Hi Trisha. This is an interesting question.

Cats or any predatory mammal would normally carry their prey away from the site of capture or kill so as not to draw too much attention to themselves. I doubt very much it is a cat. They normally asphyxiate or shake their victims to death and invariably bite their heads off.

It could be the work of a stoat or weasel. These animals will bite into the skulls of prey to kill them off. It’s the way they dispatch of rabbits or rats.

Sparrowhawks would not peck their victims to death. Their bills are not designed for such a function.
Your killer if it was a bird, could be a magpie or other corvid. I observed recently a magpie coming to my bird feeder and helping itself to a young house sparrow. It grabbed the unfortunate sparrow then proceeded to batter it with its bill,oblivious to the frantic attentions of adult sparrows and other birds which had gathered to see the deadly fracas.
I hope this sheds some light on your inquiry – from Monahawk

2. the brain has a lot of good stuff in it compared to some other bits of a body.

A few animals will eat that first (or only) if there is enough other food around. Monahawk’s thoughts all seem like reasonable suggestions. from Isurus

3. A number of years ago I had a male Sparrowhawk which on catching its prey would crunch the skull and just eat the brain and leave the rest of it’s prey, the sound of it doing it was terrible.
Chris
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So sparrowhawk, stoat, weasel, crow, rook or any corvid. Seems like a bird is the most likely answer.
Loraine, Have you found anything out?

reading the answers I feel it could be a sparrowhawk. I think once they find a food supply they stay in the area – this is only a guess.

I hope it hasn’t happened again
Trisha

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DEAD SPARROWS WITH BRAINS MISSING

Trish — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 17:16:00 +0000

I keep finding dead sparrows underneath my birdfeeder.

Each time I notice dead sparrow has the same injury, the back of the skull and the brain is missing .

We have cats around but this is not a typical way a cat eats a bird.

Can you tell me what is going on here? It seems as if maybe a bird is going it. The wound is very precise like a beak pecked at it. Would other sparrows kill other sparrows like this or perhaps another type of bird?

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I have been asked this question by Loraine, but I just do not know the answer.

I have never heard anything like it.

Please can anyone help?

Loraine, I will ask my knowledgeable friends and see what they say?

Have you had any more dead sparrows? I hope not.

Trisha

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SPARROWHAWKS AND THEIR PREY

Trish — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:01:23 +0000

A while ago I wrote about the time when I saw a

SPARROWHAWK WITH ITS TALONS ROUND A BLACKBIRD

I have had two different opinions and have put them below. What do you think? Let me know

Mehr says -

it’s amazing that so many people like birds, but not sparrowhawks!!! they are birds to, and amazing ones, and since i have worked all my life with birds, and studied hawks, I can tell you that they play an importent part in the ecosystem, otherwise they wouldn’t be there.

god/nature created the birds, and also the hawk for a purpose, and we are not the ones to judge or interfere.

i can asure you it is a highly natural and expected death for the samll birds to die by a hawk, but to get hit by a car, shot, poisoned or overfedd to death is a humilating one.

what you did, trying to scare the hawk away is not nice, how can you want to save one and kill the other?? respect and love nature, as a entire system, not just the part that is cute and accpetable for your personal gain in feelings….

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A reply from Shell to the same article -

I just wish life was fairer on the smaller birds. Now, if it was a cat prowling around and attacking a Sparrowhawk are you saying we should just let nature take its course? It’s natural for cats to hunt birds and other small animals as they are also natural born hunters but it isn’t nice to see anything being killed.

A Sparrowhawk hunts to survive but when it visits someone’s garden and feeds off the birds time and again, day in day out how can that make a bird lover feel? How many birds does a SH eat in a day? If they eat several then that’s several garden birds down, over a space of a week we are probably talking in our tens or even twenties, or more.

I have seen other animals attacked by big birds and then left half eaten, even if that.

I heard a SH kill a Starling and it was the most horrendous sound, the frightening cries of the Starling and its desperation to get away so you can’t blame people feeling sad about losing smaller birds.

We have also had a Buzzard visit and it was by no means as persistent as the SH. I think the Buzzard might have took over the territory of the SH because it has not been here for a while. The Buzzard did not stop by and goes hunting elsewhere.

just read a news article about 75 Starlings crash landing and they assumed the birds had been chased by a predator like a Sparrowhawk.

I posted a comment earlier but it has disappeared

Shell

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My reply -

Songbirds are declining in number. Sparrowhawks are rising in number. Sparrowhawks do not have any natural predators. Songbirds have a lot of natural predators. I agree nature created birds and hawks – but in any situation it is bad to have an inbalance – too many predators to too few prey.

I have heard so many first hand experiences of sparrowhawks decimating hedges with birds in and attacking any birds that landed on bird tables – causing blood to be all over the bird table.

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Do you have any opinions or thoughts on this?

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Bird Like Dinosaurs had poisonous bites

Trish — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 10:12:26 +0000

A skull and part of the skeleton of a dinosaur has been found at the site of a prehistoric forest in north East China.

The dinosaur had teeth that are like teeth of rear-fanged snakes and venomous lizards.

Some of the fang like teech which are on the upper jaw had grooves that scientists think poison ‘flowed’ through.

So this dinosaur may killed its prey by poisoning it.

The dinosaur that was found is a feathered raptor.

It was about the size of a turkey and 128 million years ago it preyed on birds using its fangs.

A bird with a bite that delivers poison. I wonder why it died out.

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Sparrowhawks find a clever way to catch prey

Trish — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:24:36 +0000

At Yorkshire Water’s Top Hill Low nature reserve there has been a display of Sparrowhawk’s new way of hunting.

Tophill Low Warden, Richard Hampshire said ‘ The behavour we have been observing at the reserve shows this species is no bird brain, observing and learning how its prey escapes before using this knowledge to its advantage to help it secure some very easy catches.’

98% of a sparrowhawks diet is made up of other birds.

It is believed that this new way of hunting shows sparrowhawks are highly intelligent birds and can learn the behavour of their prey and use this to give them an advantage so they can catch more birds.

These sparrowhawks at the Nature Reserve have learned how to get other birds to knock themselves out!

They do this by forcing their prey to fly headlong into the glazed window of a feeding station!

Well I never!

Staff at this reserve have now put silhouettes of falcons on the windows. This is to try to keep the smaller birds that are fleeing from the sparrowhawk away from the window.

Now that sort of hunting takes thought and brains. Who would have thought it of a Sparrowhawk.

I seem to remember that on Autumnwatch there was a sparrowhawk shown drowning a Magpie! The sparrowhawk pushed the Magpie under the water. Killing the magpie this way would be less dangerous to the sparrowhak.

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Take a look at this video of a sparrowhawk in our garden

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Sea Eagle Bird

Trish — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 10:23:39 +0000

In Scotland figures show that there have been 28 confirmed cases of illegal pesticides being used and killing birds of prey,

Also in Scotland 42 poisoned baits which have been set illegally were found.

The RSPB say that the killings remained unacceptably high (the figures were lower than previous figures)

Some Sea Eagles nests have been examined and the contents of the nest noted over the past two years. This was done by Members of the Outer Hebrides Bird Group. Remains found in nests were

fulmars
mountain hare
puffin
short eared owl
raven
red deer
gannets
fragments of lambs

Local farmers have blamed the reintroduction of the Sea Eagle as being the cause of the loss of 200 lambs.

In February a spokesman from the RSPB said they

‘aim to get to the root of the problem’ ….. as to why farmers have lost 200 lambs ‘we need to know the causes of that’

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I will look and see if I can find out if the RSPB have got to the root of the problem as to why 200 lambs have disappeared

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Crow eating a blackbird

Trish — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:21:34 +0000

A while ago I had a comment from a lady. She told me that in May last year she saw a crow pluck a blackbird off the hedge and eat the blackbird.
Before you read this – don’t let it put you off feeding birds – there is a lot of fun to be had feeding birds
I was telling a friend about the blackbird being eaten by a crow and she told me that in the car park where she works two crows were pecking a live dove to bits. She rushed out, the crows flew away but the dove was so badly mauled it died.
The crows kept on maurauding round the car park looking for the dove they had lost.
Nature is raw and harsh.
Here in her own words is the lady’s story about the crow taking a blackbird. -

We have a breeding pair of blackbirds in our garden (or did have).

The female was wise and had learnt to flap her wings to balance herself whilst she fed on the feeder that she was not meant to fit on to.

Unfortunately, I have just witnessed a crow, pluck her out of the hedge row, and despite my efforts to scare it to drop her, the crow flew off and promptly devoured her. So yes crows do kill birds…Not so keen on crows at the moment

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No neither am I.
The crow breeds between April and June. I wonder if the crow was finding food for it’s young, or if the crow population is getting bigger.
It is sad that a blackbird dies and a crow survives. It may be that crows that will multipy and the blackbirds reduce in number.
Here is some information

Crows are completely black.
They nest in trees and are solitary birds, unlike rooks who nest in colonies.
Crows have a black beak. Rooks are black with a pale beak.
As well as eating smaller birds crows eat seeds, fruit, insects, eggs, kitchen scraps, small mammals, amphibians, snails – I could go on.

I myself was horrified when ages ago I watched a crow eating a blackbird.

I couldn’t describe how bad it was to watch. I did not know if it had found a dead blackbird or if it had caught a live blackbird. I think now it must have caught the blackbird when it was alive.
Crows eating birds must happen a lot. I have seen it happen, a friend has seen it happen and the lady who sent this comment has seen it happen.
Surely it must happen unseen all the time in among the hedge rows and trees.
With a predator like a crow to contend with birds certainly don’t need cats prowling about after them .
Cats are domesticated and get fed by their owners. Yet, cats can kill all the time, not just when they are hungry. I have seen cats killing birds a number of times – once when we had a stray cat move into our house

I have also had trouble with rooks and crows at the birdtable in my garden

Maybe cats and crows are two of the reasons for the decline in some birds – sparrowhawks may be another.

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Bird eating bird in Hollywood

Trish — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:05:26 +0000

While on a recent trip to Disney (Hollywood Studios) my 10 year old daughter and I were enjoying watching a sparrow feed its cute baby. However, a blackbird came down, attacked the baby and killed it right in front of us.

I told my daughter to look away, but it was too late. She was in tears and extremely upset for the rest of the evening!

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It would just see the young sparrow as an easy meal. We can’t understand this can we? I was once told it is the way of nature. In the wild things feed off other each other.

Thanks for sharing this with us. It is amazing that this happened at Disney (Hollywood Studios). When I saw a bird eating a bird I was in the middle of the countryside with no one about at all.

I suppose as long as there are birds of prey we will always get this, but it is horrible to see.

I also saw a sparrowhawk with it’s talons around a blackbird. Horrible and Amazing. Trisha

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Rook eating a blackbird

Trish — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:31:23 +0000

Yes, I have seen a rook or a very large crow eating a blackbird.

Last year, a male blackbird was feeding a baby blackbird a worm in my back garden. It was such a lovely sight. As the baby went to take the worm, the large crow or rook swooped and picked up the baby.

I opened the kitchen door, ran and screamed wherin the baby was dropped. The garden is enclosed and the baby wasnt able to fly properly, so I put washing basket over the baby to protect it (temporarily) and placed it under a shrub. (The wash basket had openings, for the adult bird to feed the baby through the basket).

Unfortunately, the crow/rook attacked/killed and then flew off with the adult. It was so sad as I loved the male adult bird. It worked tirelessly throughout the day to feed the baby and any others that I didnt see. I now discourage crows and rooks from visiting our garden at any time of year.

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I was lucky enough to receive this descriptive story of bird eating bird. I used to think that it was a nice, civilised world in bird world, but it isn’t is it?

Birds eat birds without thinking anything of it. This rook took a parent bird away from its young!

It’s a good job there was someone around to help the young birds. And what a good idea to put a wash basket over it.

I remember how shocked I felt when I watched a rook in a hedgerow eating a dead blackbird. It was amazing to watch.

That’s nature I suppose. It has been going on for years, it’s just that we don’t see it very often.

Trisha

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