Not Something You See Every Day
So this afternoon I was passing through my living room, when I happened to look over to the window and saw a mass of small white feathers flying up in the air (we're in a first floor flat). I actually thought two pigeons had collided in mid-air, before deciding that maybe it would be worth a look outside, so I walked over to the French doors and stepped out on the balcony to see ...
A gorgeous kestrel (or is it a sparrowhawk?)had caught a pigeon and was in the classic pose of hiding it's kill, by stretching it's wings and crouching over it. I knew it was risky to move, but I was lucky that it stayed for long enough to allow me to run and grab my camera from my bedroom, and get three shots. After I'd got those, I popped in to get Mum, but by the time we had got back to the balcony, it had gone, leaving a few more feathers swirling around. I adore birds of prey, and though I feel sorry for the pigeon, I'm still excited to have seen such a gorgeous bird!
At one point it was startled by something and half flew, half walked a couple of feet further away, towards the edge of the road, and a parked car, but it wasn't long before a car coming down the road obviously threatened it even more, and it flew off, taking lunch with it! I hope to see it again sometime, and suspect that it probably lives about 100 yards away in the churchyard at the bottom of our road. There are plenty of pigeons around to supply it with food, anyway!
So this afternoon I was passing through my living room, when I happened to look over to the window and saw a mass of small white feathers flying up in the air (we're in a first floor flat). I actually thought two pigeons had collided in mid-air, before deciding that maybe it would be worth a look outside, so I walked over to the French doors and stepped out on the balcony to see ...
A gorgeous kestrel (or is it a sparrowhawk?)had caught a pigeon and was in the classic pose of hiding it's kill, by stretching it's wings and crouching over it. I knew it was risky to move, but I was lucky that it stayed for long enough to allow me to run and grab my camera from my bedroom, and get three shots. After I'd got those, I popped in to get Mum, but by the time we had got back to the balcony, it had gone, leaving a few more feathers swirling around. I adore birds of prey, and though I feel sorry for the pigeon, I'm still excited to have seen such a gorgeous bird!
At one point it was startled by something and half flew, half walked a couple of feet further away, towards the edge of the road, and a parked car, but it wasn't long before a car coming down the road obviously threatened it even more, and it flew off, taking lunch with it! I hope to see it again sometime, and suspect that it probably lives about 100 yards away in the churchyard at the bottom of our road. There are plenty of pigeons around to supply it with food, anyway!
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