Deceased bird of prey ID, please

Horizontal bars on the chest make it look like a sparrowhawk, as others said.
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A kestrel has short vertical marks.

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The size of 38cm doesn't rule out the kestrel, according to Wikipedia, but it's on the big size for a sparrowhawk...
 
lD'd the big bird that does in pigeons outside my office window as a sparrowhawk and he or she looks exactly like your deceased specimen.
 
As above definately a sparrow hawk... they fly at very high speed to take out smaller birds... but they will prefer pigeons and although often they cannot fly off with them they will drag them into the bushes to consume them...

Had one do something similar to me... was standing next to my car on my driveway one day with the passenger door open... heard a huge bang beside me...a sparrowhawk had swooped down between the bushes at the side of my house and flew straight into the passenger car window..fortunately it was shaken but after a few moments flew off....
 
Sparrow hawk! Regularly get females (the larger ones) eating pigeons alive. It is very very vocal/not nice to witness, the Sparrow hawk will continue to eat their catch's breast meat despite the pigeon being alive and trying to escape. Have numerous photographs of this - the hawk will not leave it's catch despite a human being 2-3 ft away.
 
cobgoblin said:
It must be rough being a pigeon!.. Reviled, shot, prey for everything and now being eaten alive.
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We can give thanks for the role that carrier pigeons played in WW2 eg Mary of Exeter who completed all her missions despite being wounded 3 times by enemy falcons and gunfire. Mary is one of 32 pigeons awarded the Dickin Medal. A short film about her was released last year.
 
There was a tree at the back of my place that used to get lots of sparrows roosting in it. One day a sparrowhawk arrived and over the next few day it had the lot of them and I have barely seen a sparrow in the garden since :(
 
Yesterday I chucked the corpse over the fence into the hedge :eek:. I’d have kept it frozen and sent it in if I’d known about the monitoring scheme, but thanks for the info for another time, Kit06.

The sparrowhawk wouldn’t try and take a crow, would it? The crows are always attacking and displaying to our arena mirrors, maybe the sparrowhawk tried to pick one off?

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We had a sparrowhawk crash in to our patio doors some years ago. It had been chasing a blackbird. The blackbird had crashed in to the patio doors first, its top beak had gone straight through the bottom beak, the sparrowhawk had a cracked skull. Both very dead when we found them.
 
Female sparrowhawks will take a crow.. From the size of the one you found and the brown colouring it was a female. The males are smaller and more grey.
 
I made the mistake of trying to keep some white doves. Bought 6 and kept them in a caged area while they bred, had 18 of them by the end. Took the cage down around the cote after a few months and then Mrs Sparrowhawk picked them off one each day - unfortunate timing as she was nesting not far away. My husband caught her just as she was on top of one, starting the very unpleasant 'eating alive' routine, and scared her off. The dove was fine, until Mrs S caught it and ate it the next day while we were out :(.

Interestingly, after all the doves had been eaten some jackdaws moved into the cote the following year and the sparrow hawks tried to move into one of the nest holes at the same time, but the jackdaws were having none of it! I love watching all the wildlife whilst doing the horses each day, even the gory bits.
 
cobgoblin said:
Female sparrowhawks will take a crow.. From the size of the one you found and the brown colouring it was a female. The males are smaller and more grey.
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Wow if you could ever find a falconer (well, austringer I suppose) with a sparrowhawk that had taken a crow I’d be impressed! I’ve never heard of that in 40 years of following falconry, I must be out of touch....
 
Looks like a Barn Owl to me, and what a sad ending for the bird

I think it will be correct to ring your local Police station and they will get in contact with the correct bodies for you.

The bird will need to be checked to see if its death is normal, and there are no suspicious circumstances es been shot! or poisoned
Sorry for your sad first post here and I am looking forward to many more happier chats with yourself here.

Regards
Alibion Master
We must love animals because they are the ones that make our lives more beautiful. Peace and Love!
____________________________________________________________
What Eats a Hawk
 
Alibion said:
Looks like a Barn Owl to me, and what a sad ending for the bird

I think it will be correct to ring your local Police station and they will get in contact with the correct bodies for you.

The bird will need to be checked to see if its death is normal, and there are no suspicious circumstances es been shot! or poisoned
Sorry for your sad first post here and I am looking forward to many more happier chats with yourself here.
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Are you not reading all the thread? ?
1. This was 11 months ago
2. The OP has been here a while (7 years) and this certainly isn't her 1st post.
 
The Xmas Furry said:
Are you not reading all the thread? ?
1. This was 11 months ago
2. The OP has been here a while (7 years) and this certainly isn't her 1st post.
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Don't forget that-
3. That is not a barn owl.
4. The OP must take the corpse to the police despite it having a broken neck from flying into the mirror, the police must check for poison or other fowl... sorry... foul play.

ETA - happy chats everyone. :)
 
Velcrobum said:
Sparrow hawk! Regularly get females (the larger ones) eating pigeons alive. It is very very vocal/not nice to witness, the Sparrow hawk will continue to eat their catch's breast meat despite the pigeon being alive and trying to escape. Have numerous photographs of this - the hawk will not leave it's catch despite a human being 2-3 ft away.
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Mother Nature is very cruel at times ?
 
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