collared sparrow hawk at Yarralumla

["Philip Veerman" <>]

Curiously several of the known prey taken by Collared Sparrowhawks in Canberra are Crested Pigeons (going by some photos, what others have mentioned and what I have seen) but I'm not aware of any feral pigeons and they are not a likely regular prey, as they inhabit more open areas and are probably faster fliers and at the upper limit of prey size range for CS. HANZAB shows that feral pigeons are a very small part of their diet, and they take mostly small birds. I think you need to request the Peregrine Falcons instead.

 

Philip

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Nathanael Coyne [
Sent: Saturday, 20 December 2014 6:32 PM
To: CanberraBirds
Subject: Re: [canberrabirds] Fwd: FW: collared sparrow hawk at Yarralumla

Would love if someone could relocate a few of those sparrowhawks up our way to take care of the feral pigeons that our neighbour keeps (but doesn't contain in an aviary) as they're taking up precious perching space on a grand old Yellow Box that should be being used by the King Parrots, cockatoos, rosellas and a Boobook owl that I often hear calling from up there. It's a great viewpoint for a mile around.

Nathanael Coyne