Als de mussen blaffen... Acht jaar lang Sperwer 1416183 in de tuin

From spring 2008 till at least spring 2016 a male Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus has been a regular visitor in a garden in the village of Burgum in the province of Friesland. It had been ringed as a chick in 2007, at a site 3 km NE of the garden. For several later years, it has been breeding at a distance of 1 km of the garden. The identity of this male could be repeatedly confirmed from reading the ring on photographs taken at close range. The male’s visiting frequency of the garden was highest in winter and lowest in summer. Diel visits were timed like clockwork, i.e. with a variation of at most 15 minutes: 7:00 (if in daylight), 9:00, 14:00, 16:00 and 18:00 h. In summer, garden visits were recorded as late as 21:45 h. These timings varied slightly over the year. If a catching attempt was unsuccessful, he consistently returned 30-45 minutes later for a second try. An attack was preferably performed with the sun in the back. Plucking of a prey could take up to 1.5 hours, of which the first 15 minutes were normally very hasty. Brains were eaten first. Main prey species were Starlings Sturnus vulgaris, but also House Sparrows Passer domesticus, Blackbirds Turdus merula and Chaffinches Fringilla coelebs. A Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus was taken once. Collared Doves Streptopelia decaocto on the diet presumably were window casualties or kills made by its mate. When hunting, the male was often seen stationary in a listening posture, from which a sudden attack could be launched. A striking example of the use of hearing during hunting was evident when fleeing birds crashed into a window: upon hearing the collision, the male Sparrowhawk walked towards the window and searched the ground and bushes underneath the window for an injured or killed bird. In the evening, the male was also observed collecting incompletely eaten prey that had been previously killed that day.