Ik heb een archieffoto van de mannetjes sperwer. Nog geen nieuwe kunnen maken. Zowel het mannetje als het vrouwtje jagen hier in en om de tuin. Het vrouwtje pakt meestal de houtduiven. Het mannetje de kleinere tuinvogels. @[email protected] #sperwer #februarivogelmaand #tuinleven

#FebruariVogelmaand dag18 #Sperwer - Accipiter nisus - @[email protected] #vogels 🪶

🦅Sperwer - Sparrowhawk - Accipiter nisus. Male has typical orange-brown colour, female has white colour instead. Saw this one while cycling home😃
#sperwer #sparrowhawk #accipiternisus #alttext added

The garden falls silent.

A few weeks ago, a Sparrowhawk turned our garden upside down in a storm of panic and wings. Yesterday, he returned. This time, there was no chaos — only anticipation. Every bird seemed to know what was coming. Long before I noticed him, the garden emptied itself. Not in panic, but with experience.

Only two House Sparrows (Passer domesticus — Huismus — House Sparrow) made a mistake. They chose low cover beneath the bird feeder house. When the Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus — Sperwer — Eurasian Sparrowhawk) landed on top of it, right above them, they froze. Perfectly still. Camouflage doing what evolution designed it to do.

The garden was silent. Too silent.

The sparrowhawk scanned the area, clearly disappointed. Then the two sparrows shifted… and briefly quarrelled. A fatal error. In a flash of muscle and feathers, the hawk launched himself downward. The sparrows reacted instantly — nimble, desperate, alive. They fled with the hawk right on their tail, vanishing beyond the garden.

I don’t know how it ended. That’s nature.

Predators like the Sparrowhawk don’t hunt for sport. They take what they need, removing weakness and maintaining balance. Without them, ecosystems collapse quietly and invisibly. Watching this unfold from my lunch table was a reminder that even the smallest garden is part of a much larger system.

Photographed handheld with my Canon 5D Mark IV and Sigma 100–400mm at f/6.3, 1/250 sec, ISO 3200 — overcast, calm, and deceptively peaceful.

Nature rarely announces itself loudly. Sometimes, it simply holds its breath.

#AccipiterNisus #Sperwer #EurasianSparrowhawk
#PasserDomesticus #Huismus #HouseSparrow
#BirdPhotography #GardenWildlife #UrbanNature
#NatureObservation #EcologicalBalance #Predation
#WildlifeBehavior #BirdsInTheGarden #NatureStory
#HandheldPhotography #Canon5DMarkIV #Sigma100400
#WinterWildlife #OvercastDays #NaturalSelection
#FoodChain #Ecosystem #BackyardNature
#PixelfedPhotography #WildlifeMoments

Sperwer - Sparrowhawk - accipiter nisus #sperwer #sparrowhawk #accipiternisus Nice surprise to see this one😃

👀 The sparrowhawk came into my garden again to see if there was anything tasty. Unfortunately for him, all the little birds had hidden well ——- De sperwer kwam weer eens in mijn tuin kijken of er nog een lekker hapje was. Helaas voor hem hadden alle vogeltjes zich goed verstopt 👀.

#sparrowhawk #sperwer #sperber #roofvogel #raubvogel #birdofprey #avederapiña #oiseaudeproie #natuur #nature #natur #naturaleza

💚 Last night a sparrowhawk landed in my backyard looking for a tastte snack, but the little birds had hidden in the bushes in time 🍀.

#sparrowhawk #birdsofprey #sperwer #roofvogels #backyard #nature #natuur #natur #naturphotography #natuurfotografie

Sperwer op bezoek in de tuin (feb. 2024)

#sperwer
#sparrowhawk
#sperber
#epervierdeurope
#vogels
#vogelfotografie
#birds
#birdphotography
#natuur
#nature