Getting close to the sparrowhawks

It was mid july, and I went for a walk in one of my local forests. A faint but familiar sound came from a part of the woods, and I turned around to check it out. And in a treetop I spotted a young sparrowhawk. I stayed for a while, just looking. The hawk was calling, and suddenly someone answered. There were more of them.

Now, how to get some photographs of them? Not easy when they sit high in the trees. I looked around, and found an opening in the dense forest. If they only would fly down here, I might have a chance.

So I rushed back home and got my photo blind, a Tragopan tent I got for christmas. And I brought along some bird seeds to attract the smaller songbirds down, hoping that the sparrowhawk would be interested in them.

The days went, but I could only hear the hawks, they did not want to land anywhere near the blind. And neither did the small birds. But I know I had to be patient and let them get familiar with the tent that suddenly had popped up.

First sighting

Then one morning I could hear one of the hawks fly right above my tent. He was clearly chasing something. And then, suddenly he decided to rest in a tree right in front the photo blind. Finally, after many hours of waiting, I got a sight of the hawk.

I fired off some shots as he sat and called out, and I had finally got some photos. Later that morning I heard another hawk behind the tent. I opened the rear window slowly. The light was dramatic, and I underexposed to get a dramatic scene as the bird was preening its feathers.

So far so good, and the next morning was even better. Closer to the ground in front of the hide, a tree had fallen down. I was again out early, and after a couple of hours of waitning, one of the hawks landed in a very nice position in front of me. Again he started calling out loud, and I could just sit and enjoy the moment.

It's four of them!

A couple of days later I was back again, thinking they might wanted to land in the same spot right in front of my tent. But suddenly I heard some noises from up a hill on my left side. I looked up, and two sparrowhawks sat on a stone where they clearly used to eat from. They were nipping in what looked like a wing from a small songbird. But it was not much meat left on it. While they sat on the stone, a third hawk came flying down towards them. And while I managed to get a fairly poor shot of the three hawks, I noticed that a fourth individual was resting in another tree.

I was blown away. Four sparrowhawks, clearly young individuals, playing and training on their hunting skills. Now I just had to get them even closer and try to avoid to many twigs and obstructions between me and the birds.

I waited until they flew away for the day, and prepared a spot where I had a clear line of sight from my blind.

I found a nice tree-root, and placed in on top of a rock, and got rid of some small twigs that were in the way. The scene was set for the following day.

A perfect pose

I was up bright and early, and poured myself a cup of coffee while I was waitning for things to happen. To further increase my chances, I had placed a bit of chicken meat where I hoped one of the hawks would land.

Then, at mid day, one of the hawks landed on the tree root, feeding on the chicken meat, just as planned! With the silent mode activated on my Nikon Z6, I fired off some shots. But what happened then, I will never forget.

The young sparrowhawk walked to the top of the tree root, looked up towards the sky and started stretching its wings. I could not have asked for a better pose from this beautiful bird. Until this day, I think this encounter is one of my most memorable ones. And I had achieved what I had set myself to do: getting close to the sparrowhawks.