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Wednesday, June 21, 2006 8:49 PM
Subject:
[canberrabirds] Raptor action in Holt
At 10:00am yesterday, I was following orders by carrying out
the mundane chore of pegging washing (Sigh! I always thought I was
destined for more meaningful pursuits), I heard and saw Common
Starlings, Magpie Larks, Pied Currawongs and Common Blackbirds kicking
up a hullabaloo. I stopped pegging, scanned the sky and was rewarded by
the sight of a Collared Sparrowhawk flying by. It landed in a
neighbour's tree for a minute then, a few moments later, flew to
another nearby tree before flying out of sight. I guess it was trying
to flush a bird to within grabbing distance.
At 3:00pm today, I was at the rear of the Kippax shops,
adjacent to the playing fields, when I was attracted to movement atop a
winter-bare tree. I fetched the binos from the ute and identified a
Collared Sparrowhawk plucking what I took to be a Red-rumped Parrot
because there is often a small flock feeding in the area. As I edged
closer the hawk took wing and, after thirty metres, dropped its victim.
I watched for ten minutes in case it returned to retrieve the fallen,
although I'm led to believe it's unusual for an accipiter to recover
dropped prey. Then I went into the supermarket. More mundane duties. I
hate grocery shopping. Twenty minutes later I returned and saw
the fallen was still laying on the playing fields of Eaton ... I mean
Holt, so I walked over and it turned out to be an Eastern Rosella, an
immature bird judging from the dullish plumage. I imagine an Eastern
Rosella would be approaching the maximum prey size for a Collared
Sparrowhawk. Incidentally, I reckon the sparrowhawk was a female going
by its size.
John Layton.
