Sunday, March 27, 2011

Hawkeye

Sparrowhawk!
The eyes have it

Sparrowhawk!
You've got to keep a firm grip, or the hawk won't hesitate to grip you...

Sparrowhawk!

Massive thanks to my trainer, Del, for phoning me when he'd caught this male Sparrowhawk in his garden and then letting me come round to ring it!

You always handle any bird with respect, but when it's got razor-sharp talons ready to grab you, and a bit of an attitude, you're onto another level entirely...

In the final picture you can see the contrast in the secondaries (and alula) between older, brownish, feathers, and newer bluish-grey ones. That shows that this bird hatched the year before last.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

1 comment:

  1. Having watched just how deadly those talons can be I can see why they have to be handled with care.

    ReplyDelete