HI All,
I have had a similar experience, although in my case the prey item was an
exotic ( a sparrow) and the event occured in my & my neighbours tiny Coburg
(Melbourne) back yards.
It is not uncommon for raptors to pass over my garden. I am often alerted to
this by my chooks and other birds giving warning calls.
One day, while I was in the back yard, a bird landed in my neighbours silver
birch. It sort-of looked like a I Turtledove, which we have LOTS AND LOTS of
because my neighbour feeds them, - but it was not quite right. Though the
light was not good I picked out features that when I later described them to
a birdo friend he identified it as a Sparrowhawk.
At the time I was rather confused because the bird was basically above my
chook yard (with roosters) and all around were native and non-native birds -
incl wattlebirds and honeyeaters, none of them were giving warning calls
about this bird. To demonstrate just how well this bird had everthing
tricked - a group of sparrows flew in and landed in the tips of the silver
birch just in front of the bird. While they were still trying to get their
balance on the slender stems the bird lept up grabbed a sparrow and flew
off.
The sparrows were not impressed. They spent hours after this in dense shrubs
making angry CH CH CH noises!!!!!!
wendy moore
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