Our magnificent, rarely occurring bird of prey. It is beautiful indeed, although it is difficult to take a good picture of it. It is, as befits a predator, very fast, and when it sits down in order to look for its prey, it chooses a very highly located observation point. I once had the pleasure, being in an „eagle hide”, to observe a sparrowhawk bantering with two magpies. The birds chased one another flying between the branches of trees. Unfortunately their size, swiftness, the distance between me and the birds, and the midday sunlight did not enable me to take good quality pictures. The sparrowhawk usually eats birds that are smaller than it, such as sparrows and tits. The female sparrowhawk is nearly twice as heavy as the male, with a weight of almost 300 g, the male weighs about 150 g. The bird’s wingspan is about 70 cm.
Last minute news 08/2013
One documentary photo taken while I was waiting for beavers. Nothing was the way it should have been: the distance was improper, the lenses were against the light, ISO was high, simply a perfect recipe for a bad photo. Hopefully with time this bird will have a gallery like the one of the Common Buzzard or the White-tailed Eagle. For the time being it is a collection of random documentary pictures.
Last minute news-10/2013
The changes introduced in the gallery of the European green woodpecker are similar to those introduced in the gallery of the Eurasian sparrowhawk. Previous single and chance pictures had rather documentary character. The ones which were taken while I was waiting for red deer on a pulpit, are more interesting and better than the previous ones. They don’t make a gallery that white-tailed eagles, common buzzards or great bustards have, but the progress in this regard makes me feel happy, especially as a bonus to the rut. Who knows, maybe in winter I will have a chance to take better pictures of the Eurasian sparrowhawk, especially that it often appears near feeders. Time will show…
Last minute news – 09/2017
This gallery has more information about meetings with the sparrowhawk than its photos. This time there was not much better. It was flying as fast as flash lighting so paradoxically the dynamic pictures were impossible. A sparrowhawk had a small skirmish with a carrion crow, but it underestimated its opponent. The initiative was soon taken over by a carrion crow and the sparrowhawk escaped quickly. But for a moment it sat down near our lookout point and then I took probably my best , so far, pictures of the Eurasian sparrowhawk. From the place where it teased with carrion crow I also managed to record a few sounds of the Eurasian sparrowhawk. The changes in the gallery are not radical enough to make it go to the news.
Last minute news-12/2020
He appeared unexpectedly in the park in Łazienki Park in Warsaw and, fortunately, a photo was taken. The Eurasian Sparrowhawk's gallery still has a satisfactory status despite the addition of a few new photos. A beautiful bird that I have been unlucky with over the years. Who knows if and when the time will come that good pictures of the Sparrowhawk will be created on my website ...
Last minute news- 02/2021
I have been building an eurasian sparrowhawk gallery for over eight years and I can't still give it a very good status, which is a pity because it is a beautiful, amazing bird. Although it belongs to the common species in Poland, because its population is tens of thousands of individuals (40-80 thousand), it is difficult to photograph. This year, I have seen it 3 times. Recently, when photographing common linnets. I took some photos and suddenly the whole flock took flight. Then I saw it and his aerial acrobatics behind the escaping flock. Incredible agility, speed. I don’t know what reflexes and equipment you need to capture this. I recommend the BBS One movie that beautifully shows the hunting and aerial skills of an eurasian sparrowhawk. Incredible movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra6I6svXQPg click on the link
Last year he chased a flock of sparrows so much that he disregarded my presence and sat on a spruce tree growing on the terrace 4 meters away from me - if I had a camera then ...There were some observations, but taking good photos was still not an opportunity all these years and the gallery finally had the content of photos of sufficient quality. It was like that until February 2021, when Tadeusz called and invited me to try to photograph the bird (Tadeusz thanks and greetings -link). As the old proverb says "Every feeder has its own sparrowhawk", it is not yet guaranteed that you will be able to take pictures there. He appeared quite regularly, but he didn’t always sit in front of the lens, and only one could observe his attack on the birds being fed. Such an attack is a fraction of a second, so again observations, not photos. Several hours of observation and it worked. On the three arrivals of the sparrowhawk towards the feeder, it sat down once and it lasted for a few seconds. The bird was jumping between the branches and that was enough to take some correct photos - finally! Almost only photos of the eurasion sparrowhawk were taken. The reason is the stress of the birds being fed. They were so tight at the thought that the sparrowhawk could appear at any time that he would fly quickly to the feeder, pick up the seed, and flee to a secluded place. In such conditions, you can only observe eurasian tree sparrows, bramblings, black-capped chickadees, european robins, common blackbirds and eurasian collared doves, and not take interesting pictures. I also feed the birds, but they are not as scared as those at Tadeusz's feeder. This session finally changes the galery on the website. Eurasian Sparrowhawk gallery is not very good yet, but such a meeting and the addition of my best photos so far should be noted in the news.
The coronavirus slowdown resulted in the inability to photograph during trips and finally there was time to make diaporamas with my photos. I invite you to YouTube, I have posted dozens of them there.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8PJawqqt_-MyNfgC5rw1DQ/videos - click on the link
Last minute news -12/2021
Although Eurasian Sparrowhawk scared off all the birds a few times, he also took some photos of itself. Unfortunately, flight in the background of the sky.
Last minute news-04/2022
This time the meeting was by my terrace. It was a big surprise, because I wanted to photograph Lesser whitethroat and Eurasian tree sparrow. When a Sparrowhawk appeared I already knew why nothing had appeared in front of my lens before. It sat so close that it could barely fit in the frame. Unfortunately part of the bird's silhouette was obscured by branches.
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