Wednesday 24 April 2013

Slaughter At Valley’s End - Dove Slain







A thud
A crash
A scream.

Rushing to the back door,
The evidence left behind
a look confirms what we feared
has happened.

But wait.
A bird has crashed into the window,
that is so,
but who stands proud on the fallen dove?

Sparrowhawk,
merciless killing machine
chased her hapless prey into a blind alley,
triumphant
in the blink of an eye.

Victor and victim,
hunter and quarry,
part of the cycle of life.


Birds form almost the entire diet of the sparrowhawk; they take any bird from the smallest tit to a full grown grouse. Game birds, particularly smaller, immature birds, as well as lapwing, wood pigeons, collared doves - as in this case - and jay, are well within the female bird’s capabilities. The adult male is smaller, he seldom weighs more than150 gm (5 ounces). Even he will sometimes kill birds as large as himself.  Sparrowhawks are classic opportunists; a bird table in the garden is an open invitation to them, which means that gardens have become their favourite killing fields.

15 minutes later in a flowerbed.
Conclusive evidence. The hawk took off with the
plucked remains.
Gardener is a pigeon fancier; for years he kept pigeons in his backyard; some of his birds were valuable, successful racers; sparrowhawks took more than one of them. Gardener tells a story of him lying in wait in the open window, shotgun trained on the bird table, which the hawk visited at roughly the same time in late afternoon each day. As if the raptor knew the fate which awaited him, he stayed away on that day. And the next. And the next again. Gardener almost gave up. He was going to give it one more day and, sure enough, the hawk appeared suddenly, at great speed, out of a thorn hedge, making for a bird on the table. Gardener blasted him.

I hate this story and killing raptors is now prohibited. But when you see a sparrowhawk stooped over a fresh-plucked songbird, with wings cowling the victim like a vampire’s cape, I defy any one not to be distressed. I have song thrushes nesting in the hedge.This bird is becoming rarer every year. At 5.30 every morning, the male pours his loud, bell-like clarion wake-up call across the garden from the top of the tall conifer; should I not hear this sound one morning before the end of the natural season and  the hawk have killed my thrushes, I’d wish for a shotgun myself. I know that sparrowhawks have every right to survive too but, please, leave my songbirds lone. Take a rook or jackdaw, maybe another collared dove or two, even a pigeon or gamebird. It’s the second time that I’ve seen the hawk linger by the bird table and I’ve seen him pick off a feeding sparrow and bluetit , which gave me an unhappy jolt both times.  Perhaps I’d better move the feeding station or stop feeding altogether.

Hawks are not afraid of people, so standing guard won’t help.



Thank you very much, Hilary, much appreciated.


49 comments:

  1. Friko, first of all let me compliment your excellent, subtle, droll, and also sympathetic writing in both this post and the St George post.

    Each post deals with some violence and drama, and lots of suspense. Legends have grown up over the centuries about dragons. Perhaps your telling about the cunning hunting skills of the sparrow hawk will be adding to a long line of tales about this very real killer.

    St Gardener? Or perhaps the small birds who feed the hawk need to be very wary. St Darwin might have set them up?

    Let me ask a question. Do the sparrow hawks migrate to other parts of the world during winter? Are they very hungry and ruthless (as a human would put it) during spring time. It this the time of year when they bring forth their own young?

    You know that I am a city person, ignorant of many natural matters. I do know that I'll long remember your words and the photos that appeared here today.

    What a writer you are! xo

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  2. I completely understand your distress and have felt the same jolt upon seeing similar attacks. As you said though, they need to eat also. It is the natural course of events.. predator and prey. And when we feed the birds, we offer up a fine cafeteria for the raptors. Nature doesn't care which are our favourites. Nature just is.

    Beautifully written and graphically but finely photographed.

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  3. Of course, to us humans it causes distress, but in the natural world of fauna and flora, this is the way things go and it is something we have to accept. It is not for us to get all emotional about and to see the sparrow hawk as a cruel bird. You did write about this incident very eloquently and with feeling. For that I thank you and for showing us how the world is really put together.

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  4. Oh, this breaks my heart. Yes, I can see why you'd be 'gunning' for the sparrow hawk -- it just hurts to see songbirds or even lovely pigeons cut down by a bird of prey. Your poem is stunning -- it truly captures it in horrid clarity. I'm so sorry you are losing your birds. I hope you can find a solution that allows them to still feed and stay alive.

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  5. Nature is what nature is...but it is still distressing to lose birds or animals to a predator and I find it hard to accept.

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  6. As TFITW stated, "nature". Not so pretty sometimes, but it is the circle of life.

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  7. A bird table? A flat surface for bird feed? It's hard to accept nature sometimes. Unfortunately when something eats, something dies.

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  8. I don't know if it would work, but would a roof over the bird table help? Or maybe netting that's stretched and strung from poles so that it's high enough for small birds to fly under, but which the diving sparrow hawk might not see from hundreds of feet above?

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  9. whew...you caught the immediacy of it in your opening verse....and all a part of nature...a hunger sated...and leaving you feeling the accomplice in your feeding...hmm...what a mess too...

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  10. It's difficult sometimes to accept the ways of the natural world. Though I don't swoop down and kill my own meat, I do eat it. So I guess I can't fault the hawk for hunting for his meal.

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  11. I had no idea that the sparrow hawks main source of food was other birds! I thought mice or rats or rabbits but not other birds. I was so surprised Friko. And yes I completely understand one's distress at some of the gorgeous little birds the hawk seems keen on. Oh dear, nature is a complex thing is it not? and many times seemingly cruel to us.

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  12. Sometimes, I don't like mother Nature. It's the nature of nature, but death is never an easy thing to witness... An excellent post.

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  13. The realities of nature are hard to accept. I'd be gunning for the sparrowhawk, too, if all the songbirds were taken.

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  14. Each bird species has its own beauty and behaviours, and who are we to judge which are 'better'?? Of course, I too am distressed to witness the death of a bird, but perhaps we, as a society, are to blame for (in effect) opening bird of prey 'fast food' outlets via birdbaths, bird feeders and nesting boxes. Are we influencing the natural evolutionary process with such things?

    Your excellent and thought provoking post has raised many questions, the answers to which don't always sit comfortably with me.

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  15. We see a lot of this, hereabouts. Sparrowhawks have to eat too.

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  16. I am with you here. I love birds - all of them. I acknowledge that the hawks have to eat but... Which possibly makes me a touch hypocritical.
    I have similar issues with cats. A neighbour's cats view our bird feeder (and the lawn in front of it) as a smorgasbord. I bought a pump-action water pistol and take great delight in blasting them.

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  17. One of the most chillingly beautiful things I've ever seen! Worthy text as well, F

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  18. ja de natuur heeft nog steeds de wet van de sterkste.

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  19. I understand your distress, however, the sparrow hawk is a magnificent beast and kills to eat, not for sport. We humans are too quick to apply our morals to the natural world but we can actually learn a lot from them. I have never understood why people have such a hatred for magpies. They are just survivors. A suggested, maybe a bird feeder with a roof over would offer some protection. My sister has one and lives in an area with the same activity but has never had a bird taken in this way. Might work.
    Di
    X

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  20. I've seen a Sparrowhawk chase a starling into our holly tree - unsuccessfully. However, there are many other occasions when the chase is rewarded with a fine meal, a pile of feathers the only testament to a small tragedy - or victory, depending on your perspective.

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  21. Quite the tragic tale indeed. And wonderful photos....and it is sad! Such a deft killer...silent but deadly...yikes
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  22. We can't pick and choose , sadly . All songbirds are suffering the effects of pesticide use , wildly overenthusiastic European weekend hunters and sleek urban cats . Buying more organic produce helps ... as does putting a bell on your cat's collar but I wouldn't put netting over a bird table . A sparrow hawk entangled in a net would be just as upsetting a sight .

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  23. We have a sparrowhawk that regularly has breakfast on out patio. It always has a good nibble before taking the remains away to the 'dining room'.

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  24. When I first began feeding the birds, I noticed that an immature Cooper's Hawk had discovered the feeders too. I wrestled in my heart with the problem and thought about taking the feeders down, but I didn't. Your dismay is understandable. I finally grew more tolerant of the beautiful hawk but never enjoyed watching him take a bird down.

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  25. I used to question our interfering with nature was not tolerable but now totally understand Gardener's thinking. When we saw $80 worth of equisite pink water lilies disappearing from our pond's surface and discovered a growing family of muskrats enjoying them, it was all out warfare. Now that the winter snows are leaving piles of feathers or fur are being revealed - the result of the many hawks, owls and four legged creatures who inhabit our northwoods.

    Life continues on and at the same time we continue to take note of this cycle right outside our door. You have captured such a moment in you post - well done as always!

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  26. Excellent post. The opening verse was striking and so were the photographs. I understand your sorrow at the loss of the birds in your yard and garden. We have neighborhood kitties that stalk and kill birds in our yard. It's always upsetting to find a pile of feathers on the ground after seeing the cats in the yard. I think hawks are amazing and I like cats, but I wish they didn't prey on the gentle songbirds. The ways of Nature are sometimes hard and sad.

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  27. that's the reality of nature i'm afraid

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  28. A very thought-provoking post. Like Fly I have to accept this as a fact of life in the wild, so perhaps the answer is to stop feeding birds in the season when the hawk has young to feed. I only ever feed birds in the winter when there is little or nothing available for them. I think the decline in the thrush population has another reason - the decline in their food source of slugs and snails because of pesticide use.

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  29. One of the most distressing things about nature, is leaving it to take its course. You do have to do it with wild creatures, of course, but it is so hard. With any luck your hawk will not focus too hard on your song birds and concentrate on the nastier ones. I suppose magpies can't taste very nice - and they're also so big and strong.

    I was furious when next door's cat killed a wren that was nesting here, specially since the creature is well fed by its owner.

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  30. Somehow the hawks and eagles don't bother me as much as domestic cats, let loose to torment the birds around our feeders. We've lost ducks and chickens over the years - and somehow, as awful as it is, it seems better to have them taken by an eagle than an otter or mink or raccoon.

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  31. It is my fault to be suffering from close inspection. I should have looked away. Yikes, I understand your distress.

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  32. Sparrow hawk. That is new to me, but I'm certainly familiar with hawks. They sit on our basketball goal and watch for a meal. thank goodness our dog is too large to be taken away. I do fear for our neighbor's miniature poodle, however. Even though we live right in the city, only a mile or two from the uptown area, we've had foxes and coyotes living among us. I'd take them over hawks and neighborhood cats.

    My sympathies. I know that was a sick feeling.

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  33. Oh it is so hard to accept that death is part of life, especially violent death such as the sparrow hawk delivers. (It has its human counterparts, does it not?) You should be writing for a nature publication, Friko!

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  34. You first picture put me in mind of bankers and stool pigeons. Went back to it again. And yes, it is so predatory, so triumphant. To hell with the blood.

    Our species is no different.

    XO
    WWW

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  35. Raptors are fearsome predators. And nature is red in tooth and claw.

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  36. To the predators it is all just food. They don't differentiate between the birds we like better or prefer to listen to and the ones we don't. Life is a cruel and distressing business sometimes. I wonder if it is just us humans who are distressed by it?

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  37. This first photo pinches my heart - but then, certainly it is true, that this is the course of nature and the hawk has to eat...

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  38. We also feed birds and have sparrow hawks. I have moved all the bird feeders so that they are amongst tree branches so that the hawk does not have a clear flight. This has helped the small birds a great deal. But then I feel guilty about the hawk, because this too needs to feed. I wish there was something i could put out for him. I suppose I could buy dead chicks and hang them up somewhere, but would the hawk go for a non-moving target, and what would the garden look like, full of dead hanging chicks. Oh, life can be do difficult.

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  39. Violence in nature can be so disturbing, can't it, Friko? We have hawks here as well and I've seen them swoop suddenly, decisively, upon their prey, but, I have not seen them stalking the bird feeders.

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  40. A very moving post, Friko. True, it's the way nature functions and though it's what we are reminded during such terrible happenstances, sometimes it's just not comforting enough.

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  41. Hi Friko .. great shot of the Sparrowhawk - nature is cruel isn't it ... but we're the worst .. Cheers Hilary

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  42. Oh... I do understand... The Sparrowhawk takes me breath away with his majesty. Perhaps doeing as sweffling says - putting the feeders into the tree line a bit will help balance the scale.

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  43. We've had a couple of stray cats roaming our neighborhood that seem to be taking out some of the birds.

    =(

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  44. Majestic though raptors are, I have such mixed feelings when they fly overhead. I saw a hawk take down a blue jay and eat it right out our kitchen window. I'll never forget that. And just a couple weeks ago, as tree swallows and bluebirds were starting to settle into nesting boxes, I looked out and saw a red-tail sitting right on top of a box where only moments before I'd seen a tree swallow pair, one inside peeping out, the other up top. I'm hoping they got away.

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  45. nature is tough, and hawks can be non-selective in their meals. congrats on your POTW!

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  46. I applaud you for not only writing about, but showing photos, of how cruel nature can seemingly be. The circle of life I suppose, but hard to witness, no doubt. Congrats on your POTW mention.

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  47. Circle of life as a farm and nature girl I understand it , as a compassionate person I am still moved by it. We have free range chickens and ocassionally we come upon that circle of feathers from a cooper hawk having a meal of one of our hens. Luckily it isn't too often.

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