Sparrowhawks and goshawks

This video from the Netherlands shows five sparrowhawks and one goshawk, feeding on pigeons. Do you know the difference between those two related Eurasian species? These pictures may help you in this.

Quite some videos about sparrowhawks show them feeding on pigeons. Though pigeons are only 0.7% of sparrow hawk prey during their nesting season.

Pigeons are relatively big birds, at the limit of what sparrowhawks, especially the smaller males, can catch. That often also means that, if they do catch a pigeon, they eat it where they caught it; and don’t bring it to a place where humans can’t see it. So, filming opportunities for sparrowhawks eating pigeons are certainly bigger than 0.7%.

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