Thanks to Wife Features (Green Dad's other half) for this picture of the town centre bird of prey snacking on another unfortunate pigeon. Wife features reported earlier in the week:"Sparrowhawk came to ours for snack this morning. He or she brought their own. I got a pic through the window. It gave me a bit of a Paddington Stare but didn't seem bothered at my photo shoot." (picture will enlarge)
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Setting aside how people generally feel about seagulls, it’s fascinating to watch how they react when a bird of prey comes on the scene. An alarm call goes up and what seems to be every seagull in the town musters like some aerial strike force and launches into the air. They then set about the intruder and, although as Wife Features excellent picture shows, the intruder is often successful, it doesn’t get an easy run!
The crows react in the same way as the seagulls so you have a cacophony of sound and frantic activity when the avian security forces of the town centre kick off. Next time you hear the ruckus have a look up and see if you can spot the intruder getting its backside kicked! I’ve seen individual crows and seagulls bravely facing up to sparrowhawks and buzzards as well in an effort to protect their territory. They’ll also chase herons.
All this going on within 5 minutes of the town centre!
If there's a Paddington about the town better hide your marmalade sandwiches!
I watched a sparrow hawk take out a pigeon from under the station brae bridge, an hour later saw the same or another swooping on something in a garden on Waverly road.
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