12th December
It’s a species that I’ve already posted about back in January. But, one turned up and landed in the cherry tree and provided such a good view that I couldn’t not feature it (if that makes grammatical sense!). And oh yes, I’m at the half way point!
Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Today’s bird was a lady sparrowhawk (or ‘sprawk’) who seemed to be minding her own business and was happy to sit in a couple of branches for a few minutes before leaving. Of course all the other birds in the garden scarpered bar a jackdaw. Corvids have a strange habit of chasing after and mobbing birds of prey, even if the bird of prey is no threat to it, I’m sure a female sprawk could probably hunt a jackdaw, but jackdaws also mob kestrels and buzzards who pose no threat. Female sprawks are bigger than males and hunt bigger birds. A male would go for sparrow sized birds whereas females would go for thrush sized birds. Confusingly, the bird in the photo below is a male (I could juts search for a Wiki Commons image as I often do but I have my own picture. And it’s sitting in the very same cherry tree!). You will see that the male has grey/blue colouring whereas the females are brown.
- 1st: Goosander Mergus merganser
- 2nd: December Moth Poecilocampa populi
- 3rd: Horse Chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum
- 4th Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
- 5th Cape Sparrow Passer melanurus
- 6th Loricera pilicornis
- 7th Great Tit Parus major
- 8th Tipula paludosa
- 9th Redwing Turdus iliacus
- 10th Bank Vole Myodes glareolus
- 11th Tawny Owl Strix aluco
- 12th Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus
A Species a Day 