Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22567 – 880
Here’s the haps:
I never have the camera (the better one that is a camera for taking pictures, not a phone) when I really need it. There is a small woodpile in the backyard and when I looked out the window there was a smallish bird of prey sitting on it and staring intently into it. It was kind of a greyish brown on top and orange underneath and had a sharp curved beak and long, menacing talons. I’m guessing it was a sparrowhawk because it wasn’t real colorful like a kestrel but I don’t know birds very well even though I like having them around and I have always been impressed by birds of prey.
Anyway, he was sitting on the woodpile, his back the same color as the dried branches, when he actually went into an opening in the pile and disappeared for a few seconds and then popped out with something in its talons and flew off. I wish I could have gotten a better picture but it was with my phone through the window. It was still really neat to see. We have a lot of sparrows and chickadees year-round and finches and others in the summer so there would be plenty of food for a sparrowhawk and the kids have seen a “bigger bird fly down and grab a smaller one and kill it,” so I don’t know.
The sparrows nest in a large bush near where the woodpile is and frequent the feeder all day long. Except for today there was nobody around.
Comments
17 responses to “NaBloPoMo Day 18 – A Bird Of Prey Visits The Woodpile”
There is one of these that regularly appears near the riverbank behind my house. There are plenty of tiny birds it takes for snacks.
It’s interesting to watch.
nice to see nature doing its thing…
I enjoy seeing it.
Let’s hope it caught a horrid snake. Nicely captured Herb.
Thank you.
Worthy news to break from your writing for. I forgot about Sparrowhawks.
My dad is a bird person. Growing up we had a bird chart in the kitchen, and he would always be identifying birds. Sadly I still don’t know birds as well as he does. I know “Black Bird” by the Beatles, though!
Thanks for letting us peek out your window.
You’re welcome. There’s not always something interesting to look at.
That’s neat
It really was cool.
Great shots We have several birds of prey flying by but they never light anywhere near to be seen I love this
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Keep Laughing
It is a fascinating thing to see, too.
I’ll Bet 🤣😂🤣
These are indeed interesting to watch, but like most of your readers I don’t know my birds at all. To me, a Falcon is a Ford and a Hawk is a Studebaker.
We once had a huge black bird of prey that would occasionally rest itself in the middle of my front yard. I have no idea what it was, but its wingspan had to be 6 feet. It was big enough to make traffic slow as those in cars would gawk.
I know very little about them either but they are interesting to watch.