Birds of Prey in you area

A few years back, when I was working in Gloucester, I walked under a tree in the courtyard and was showered with lots of white feathers - with blood on them. On looking up, some poor bird was being plucked, but I couldn't see the culprit.
 
There's a BLONDE across the road that keeps giving me the eye.....I reckon she's a BIRD of prey!!!!

But yes in all seriousness we do have an abundance of birds of prey here too its on the outskirts of Cardiff.... Sparrow Hawks, Kestrels, etc I was doing the garden a few yrs ago and a Sparrow Hawk was chasing a bird and it obviously while trying to dodge the telephone wires landed against my front garden wall a few feet from me, a beautiful looking bird.....

I kept a macaw[ I taught it to talk too] until last year when I was seeing a mate off it flew out of my front door never to be seen again... [some were saying its the only Bird I can now pull the feathered type] but it was a sad day, rest assured ....
 
Sparrowhawk yesterday at Plumpton r/c - there are loads of little garden birds nesting now, although I think he had spied what he hoped was a tasty treat on the ground in the centre of the course. The rock-steady hover was a beauty to see, but he didn't stoop, so I presume whatever he'd got his assassin's eye on managed to stay rock still and play dead, or disappear. Great to see a large group of rooks go up at one point, all wheeling around against a very beautiful late afternoon sky of deepest blue shot with gold and coral. On the drive home, the best sunset I've seen in years - the great orb demonstrating what 'blood red' means, sliding down behind striations of purple and orange.
 
More likely to be a kestrel if it was hovering.
Sparrowhawks normally beat up one side of a hedge to flush the small birds out the other side, then they dive over the top and nab them.
 
Lots of buzzards around where I grew up in North Wales. There's also been a pair of ospreys breeding in the area but they always seem to be hiding when I go home for a visit to the parents :( and I've yet to see them.
 
We did mull it being a kestrel, Walsy, but it was pretty small, very sharp, slim wing tips. Problem was it was against the sun, so couldn't check out the colouring at all.
 
I live just outside Derby and we now have buzzards here. I've got a theory that the red kites are pushing them northwards, but I might be wrong. used to see them everywhere when I lived in Cornwall, so it's great to have them on my doorstep again, although we seem to have 3 pairs in quite a small area which is a concern.
 
Erm.... not quite, Raksha. Buzzards also hover, but obviously with slower wingbeats than the Kestrel. Believe me, I've seen 'em doing it!

Walsy, it definitely hovered so I'll go along with the Kestrel idea, since I can't find anything else that looks most like what I saw. The wings were very finely pointed to the tip, which is why it put me off thinking it was a Kez. But, if it isn't a visitor from Europe, I'll assume that's what it is. The size and wing crescent-shape was more Hobby-like, but I realise that they're not supposed to hover, so will discount it. Just too bad it was in silhouette against the sun, or I'd have got a better idea of colouring.
 
krizon said:
Bastards - may they be squashed by falling space debris.
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:lol: You are soo funny sometimes! Although I do agree with you totally, only I'd like to add my they be squashed slowly .....

I'm on the Ridgeway too, like Shadz, so I see the same species she does. We had a kite circling our garden the other day, not sure what he was looking for. There is a church behind us, and birds of prey live there.
 
The perries at Derby Cathedral have some serious competition from Chichester's, it seems. Perries who have been nesting there for some years are going to get their own live webcam, which will soon be available through the RSPB's main website. As of now, the Derby Duo have two eggs... three slices of bacon, two tomatoes, and a serving of fried button mushrooms.
 
My family and I refer to birds of prey as 'hawky' things because we cannot identify them. Other than Buzzards who are bulky and slow enough for us.

I have a hawky thing who lives in a tree off the road to our house. He is almost always thereabouts. Yesterday as I drove by he (she?)was above being harrassed by a group of rooks. He looked in trouble there was such a mob. I started honking and pulled off, stood on side of car and shouted. The rooks flew off, the hawk came down and I could just see it in lower part of tree.

Still no idea what it is though.
 
He was smaller, which was why I was concerned. It was cloudy so I could not make out his colour. He was back in his usual tree an hour later so I reckon he landed due to fatigue. He has a handsome profile. :)
 
Eggcellent - there were four last year. One of the young females died, sadly - the thinking is she may have crashed into a sheet glass window and broken her neck. In spite of all their vast predation of any bird they can grab, their own survivability is still surprisingly fragile.
 
A little bit off topic here as in location but it might be of interest to a few of you :).

I visited New York a couple of years ago and was told of the story of PaleMale, a Red tailed hawk who had the very cheek (tongue in cheek) to build a nest on an exclusive property in Fifth Avenue. The very wealthy residents were disgusted and moved the nest but then all hell broke loose from other New Yorkers who disagreed with the removal. Palemale came out the winner and as far as I am aware he still nest's with the best along with his mate Lola. ;)
He is Manhattan's most famous bird of prey and now has numerous websites dedicated to him, this being the best I think as the photography is just beautiful.
http://www.palemale.com/

If you have chance try to look through the archives as some of the photographs are just stunning.
 
Nice to hear that the people took his side against the ones who think they have enough money to do as they like, not only with wildlife of course, but other people as well. I hope he shits on them when they step outside!
 
Amazing news on our local tv today: an entirely new species of bird has been discovered nesting near to Eastbourne. It's apparently rather slow, short-sighted, grey, and hunched in appearance. The discoverer is going to call it Eastbournii Geriatrica.
 
krizon said:
Amazing news on our local tv today: an entirely new species of bird has been discovered nesting near to Eastbourne. It's apparently rather slow, short-sighted, grey, and hunched in appearance. The discoverer is going to call it Eastbournii Geriatrica.
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Are you sure it's not an African Zimmer that's been blown off course?
 
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