Bird of PreyBird of PreyHi
My Daughter, has recently been in hospital she had an op on her arm as broke it in three places on the trampoline and had to have a metal plate put in,bless her she has been so brave. Anyway while she has been on the childrens ward up on the 13th floor of the hospital, i have been having a little look out of the window it is surrounded by other hospital buildings approx 5/6 floors high and sitting on the edge of one of these was a building a smallish bird of prey brown with a straight across grey tail, he is waiting to pick pigeons off, that are roosting about. He is gorgeous swooping down to try and catch them, very interesting if you are tuned into wildlife, this is the inner city, dont know what sort of bird he is. Do you think the hospital has arranged for him to be there to get rid of the pigeons or do you think he has just arrived. She has been waking around 4.30am and 5.30am for her pain killers, so have been having a little look then to see if we can see mr fox, he hasn't been around to my knowledge so feel chooks are safe, i don't think he can get in our garden. She is doing well and on the mend, little soldier. Mellonia money talks but all mine ever says is goodbye
Hi Mellonia,
Such a shame for your little girl, those trampolines should be banned, sorry, I'm not a killjoy, but there have been loads of accidents with them. I love to see birds of prey, it is so fascinating to see them at a country show demonstrating how intelligent they are. It's amazing how they always return to the handler. At a show last summer the bird flew into the trees, and didn't return. The handler kept calling it back but it was teasing him, attempting to land, then taking off again. It returned to his hand right at the end of the demonstration, we were all on tenderhooks thinking he had lost his bird forever. It was all part of the show, he had trained his birds very well. Best wishes to your little girl Ilona
The colouring sounds like a male Kestrel, that’d be my guess if it is the size of a thin pigeon.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdgui ... /index.asp from that link you could also look at peregrine and sparrowhawk but my guess is Kestrel. Hope that your daughter's arm mends soon.xx Bah Humbug
Hi,
if its going for the pigeons then its more likely to be a sparrowhawk. In general the femails take on the pigeons as they are larger than the males and can carry the prey. Once saw a male take a pigeon, far to big for it and he spent 10 minutes draging it to cover as he could not fly due to the weight of prey. If ever you want to see a wonderful display of birds of prey flying and are in the south then go down to the The Hawk Conservancy Trust at Sarson Lane, Weyhill, Andover. No matter how many times I went there it was still a trill to see the birds in action.
there's the thing, sparrow hawks usually take smaller birds than pigeons, as do kestrels and both can have brown undersides albeit for different genders. peregrines are more likely to take pigeons but don't have the brown bit.
you are more likely (if you are lucky) to see sparrow hawn in and around woodland although they can be seen in rural gardens (so i've been told). kestrels are all over the place. Bah Humbug
We have birds of prey in the field behind us. But heaven knows what they are.
I thought sparrowhawks were rare nowadays? learn something new everyday. Wendy http://www.busheyk9.co.uk
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