On warm days they can be see soaring high in the sky, flying in lazy circles on stiff wings. It’s extremely unlikely for a goshawk to turn up in a garden most views are distant birds over large areas of woodland, which can be hard to identify without experience.īuzzards are another bird regularly seen along roadsides, often perched on posts or in trees. The size difference isn’t always obvious on lone birds, but goshawks have much thicker legs, bulkier bodies and in flight show slower wingbeats, a rounded tail and more protruding head. Sparrowhawks are often confused with goshawks, which are larger and much rarer. As well as gardens, they can be seen in parks, forests and other areas with some tree cover. Sparrowhawks hunt smaller birds with surprise attacks, often flying fast and low through bushes and around buildings to catch their prey unawares. They usually fly with a flap-flap-glide motion, with a few rapid wingbeats followed by a short glide. In flight, they show short, broad and fairly blunt-tipped wings and a long, square-ended tail – longer than the width of the wing. Their legs are slender and yellow, and they have fierce orange-yellow eyes. They have grey backs (brown in young birds) and a barred breast, belly and underwing – grey barring in females and orange in males, which also have an orange flush to the cheeks. Sparrowhawks are fairly small compared to many other UK birds of prey, with the largest females roughly the length of a woodpigeon, whilst males are smaller. This is the bird of prey you’re most likely to see in your garden, and probably the one here at The Wildlife Trusts’ we’re most frequently asked to identify.
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