There is one less collar dove in the world, one less visitor to our garden, one less bird for me to photograph.
When Tony shouted to me to bring my camera and do it quickly I knew there was something exciting happening in the garden or close by. I rushed (well if you can call my movements rushing) into the kitchen, what am I looking at? I asked Tony. He pointed out of the kitchen window in the direction of the garden I didn't see anything, then my eyes strayed a little further into the school yard (usually out of bounds). There it was The Sparrowhawk with a collar dove in its talons on the floor. It had only just taken the dove, it was still alive. The dove was moving trying to free itself from the Hawk, it never stood a chance.
The Sparrowhawk began plucking feathers from the dove before it had killed it, the bird knew it was going to die it just seemed to give in to it's fate and stopped struggling. The Sparrowhawk finally killed the dove after about 3 minutes, then began the real plucking and ripping of the dove.
Todays photo's of the day
I could not decide which to use and I have to warn you some of them are not pretty.
The photo's were taken from the kitchen and bathroom windows, across two gardens and into the school yard a distance of roughly 40 metres, I hand held my Canon 50D camera with Sigma 150 - 500mm lens, I am very pleased with the results.
The Sparrowhawk had a leisurely meal it took just over an hour, then it flew away taking the carcass with it. Thanks again to Tony I was in the right place at the right time.
Until tomorrow...
