Sparrow Hawk

[Terry]

Saw this female land on the garage at the back of the house and manage to get the camera and get half a dozen shots

[NannyFerret]

Beautiful! Lucky you being able to get your camera in time.

[JohnP]

How lucky to get a shot of a Sparrowhawk... good capture. I've spent a while trying to decide if it's a female or a male, that reddish brown is normally a feature of the male but I might be wrong as it needs a front on shot to be certain.

[annie]

lucky you terry.....nice shot too.

[Terry]

Thanks folks I don't think I ever got a lens onto a camera as fast.

John, I copied this from the RSPB site hence my guess that it was a female

Adult male Sparrow Hawks have bluish-grey back and wings and orangey-brown bars on their chest and tail. Females and young birds have brown back and wings and brown bars underneath

[FUJI]

What a fantastic capture..........Well Done you..................Love the way it seemed to pose for you, great focus on the all important eye:

FUJI

[JohnP]

Whatever you do Terry please don't think I'm nitpicking or anything because that wasn't my intention at all.

It's great to capture an image of a Sparrow Hawk and I take my hat off to you as I've never been able to take one myself... yet.

I am fairly certain it's a male but it really doesn't matter a hoot. The colours in these illustrations are a bit overdone, I'll leave you to decide...

http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/s/sparrowhawk/index.aspx

[Terry]

Thanks John, no thought at all of nitpicking I really appreciate your comments I'm no expert on birds and had to refer to the RSPB site that you have supplied the link to..

[JohnP]

Thanks John, no thought at all of nitpicking I really appreciate your comments I'm no expert on birds and had to refer to the RSPB site that you have supplied the link to..

It's a strange one... the tail looks female and the red coming round the neck from the breast looks male. Let's just say it's a female regional variation shall we... :lol:

[Terry]

Agreed John

Heres one of the others I got

[JohnP]

This shot actually shows the reddish colour is only on the neck and it doesn't appear to continue onto the breast... so it probably is a female. I've never seen a female with that colouring on it before. I will make a point of looking even more closly next time I see a female Sparrowhawk. Thanks for posting the second shot, it's very interesting.

[Heather]

beautiful bird, great captures. Well done Terry !

[Denis]

What a great shot, talk about lucky timing!

We do get the odd one in the garden but its never there long enough to even think of getting the camera!

[Terry]

Once again thanks everyone for the comments.