zondag 7 april 2019

life or death


A  LOUD  BANG
took us by surprise yesterday.

It happens sometimes,
when a bird flies against the living room window.

Usually nothing bad happens and they fly away again.

Not so this time :
the loud bang wasn't just one
but TWO birds !
One was lucky,
one had bad luck
.....

I looked out the side window to see
if the bird would fly away after the loud bang
and what I saw made me reach for my camera !


A kestrel and a ring-neck dove ?
Or could it rather be a (young) peregrine ??
(because of the size and the more gray colour)



Then he (or she) left with its prey !

... leaving only some feathers

What an amazing spectacle !
(I don't think we will ever see it happen again right in front of us !)

Life (for one) and death (for the other)


P.S.

Louise Watson was RIGHT :


it was a female Sparrow hawk 


(confirmed by "Vroege Vogels")

20 opmerkingen:

  1. (((Els))) the terrible beauty of life and death, half a lifetime ago the man I lived with out in the wilds of northern NSW had a young son who kept pigeons, we saw this spectacle of life and death many times

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    1. Indeed Mo, it was quite a spectacle to see it that close !!!
      (eating and being eaten ...)

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  2. I think that is a female sparrowhawk. I have had that happen in our garden and they return to pick of the birds especially when they have chicks to feed.

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    1. Louise ! you were just right !!!
      (it was confirmed by experts of our Dutch TV and radio Nature programs !)
      When I think of it, no wonder, with your stitching those beautiful birds on Mo's pennant ;-)

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  3. this is miraculous...just there, right there...
    yes...a once in a lifetime

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  4. oh....YAY!!!!!!! my comment went through!!!!!!!!
    whatever has been preventing it has changed its mind!
    oh, just YAY!

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  5. Wow! Was für eindrucksvolle Momente hast du da eingefangen, liebe Els. Ja, so nah liegen Leben und Tod beieinander.
    HerzGruß
    Jana

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    1. Jaaa Jana, so ist es !
      Es war unglaublich schön und spannend ! (gut dass ich die Kamera nah hatte !)

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  6. Yesterday morning after writing that comment a male sparrowhawk flew into our garden chasing the birds. The males are much smaller than the females. They must be feeding chicks. Still quite a coincidence.

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    1. Ahhh Louise, you really KNOW your birds !!!
      We don't live in a true rural area in the west of Holland ... but I'm glad that, after years of decline of most birds of prey, it seems they are on the mend ...

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  7. Näher kann das Tierleben kaum sein, Els! Und es stimmt, Leben und Tod liegen so dicht beieinander und der eine kann ohne das andere nicht überleben.
    Alles Liebe, Birgit

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    1. Bei dir Birgit sind die Tiere immer noch etwas näher als hier bei uns ... Wir waren begeistert so was ungewöhnliches zu sehen !
      Liebe Grüsse !

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  8. Solche Erlebnisse gibt es wohl nicht so oft und wenn man noch eine Kamera dabei hat.. wirklich sehr beeindruckend.
    Liebe Inselgrüße
    Kerstin

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    1. Erstaunlich war es Kerstin !
      (meine Kamera liegt immer irgendwo im Wohnzimmer herum : Stick-Ergebnisse fotografieren ... !)

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  9. OH! Wow! Amazing that you were able witness this!

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    1. It really was Hazel ! Lucky to there at that moment and lucky to find the camera ;-)

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