Saturday, August 31, 2013

Sparrowhawk Saturday

 Its now the last day of August. Where does the months go to? I took this photo today of the Rose Arthur Bell. It has a beautiful cup shaped flower with delicious fragrance. It glows in the fading garden. A last bloom of this growing season.
 I had a surprise visitor to the garden today. I heard lots of commotion and saw this brown blur flying into the Ceanothus and then around it. Little birds flew off in all directions. After the swift dive he flew and sat on the garden fence. The camera was at hand to photograph this beautiful predator.
 I have seen Sparrowhawks three times before and they have always flown away before I could get the camera. The Buddleja obscured the view from the window so I tried to find a gap in the foliage to get some pics.
 The flowers attract the pollinators and insects. The small birds feed on these, and the bird seed. These birds of prey live off the small birds. These are top of the food chain.
They were persecuted and poisoned lots before, but I think there numbers are increasing now. I love the burning yellow eyes, and long yellow feet and claws. They have long tails but his was hidden behind the fence.
 The flight of this bird is amazing swooping into dense garden and picking off quick little birds. I think this time he only caught a few feathers and not a kill.
 Three times before I have seen the Sparrowhawk. I showed Cat the photos on the camera. She will see it one day.
  The days are drawing in earlier now, and the sun is rising later. Autumn is nearly here. The garden needs tidying up a bit.
 I have harvested a few Tomatoes over the past few days. Eaten off the plants with a little lick of salt to draw out the flavour.I love growing Tomatoes. All the other veg has not done so well because of the NZ trip in June.
 I keep getting seed/plant catalogues. I need to start perusing them for next years plants. The seasons are turning slowly.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How come you havent blogged for weeks?