Anyone know anything about hawking with a Euro Sparrow Hawk in the US? Any breeders of them i could contact? Having trouble finding info about them in the US
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
Well I'll toss out somethging you most likely already know. The European sparrow have is the same as our sharpshin. So instead of spending money to get a bird that as far as I kow is only 3 or 4 ounces larger why not catch a local one or a male coopers? It would be around the same size( I think).
Its mainly out of curiosity that i ask, as i do not intend to fly one anytime soon. I was looking through a british book and they said they were dynomite birds, just curious if anyone had flown them in the US or Canada. I think they are the same size as a sharpy or a tad bigger.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
just wanted to be sure we were on the same page. I've heard good things about them myself. A favorite for hunting pharo's quail appearently according to Frank they are caught trained flown for the short season during the quail's migration and then released. A good book on European spars is "A Bird For The Bush" I think it was and it talks primarily about hunting with sparrow hawks along the hedge rows in Great Britian.
I used to fly sparrow hawks here in UK a few years ago. They are great birds to fly but a lot of work is needed to maintain them especially regarding diet. I flew them at partridge, [creeping up on them using a camouflaged umbrella], blackbirds & the occasional magpie.They are easy to find flights for, there's plenty of quarry available. They are similar to the sharp shin, which may have an even more nervous disposition. If I had the choice, all things considered, I'd go for a male gos if Iwanted a bird of this size.It would give a far greater range of quarry species. Then again the female is probably the best all round bird of all
A people who would trade liberty for security will end up losing both & deserving neither.
In case you were wondering, the sparrow hawk in America is the American Kestrel. I used to fly them at sparrows and starlings. you can be very successful flying the kestrel. I would recommend it to a falconer, exept they are preyed upon by (coops namely) anyting bigger than it. Otherwise it was a very delightful bird
Please don't confuse sparrowhawks with kestrels. Eurasian kestrel's pretty much like your American kestrel, rather bigger, not quite so colourful. They're no good for hunting, you say? That's funny - I'd have assumed they'd act as much like an overgrown kbird as they look.
A sparrowhawk's a small accipiter, particularly one that has enormous skinny feet and is brilliant at catching small birds but not much good on mammals. So yeah, the European Accipiter nisus, your sharpies... Coopers' are a nuisance. Try to divide accipiters into sparrowhawks and goshawks and you'll have to draw a sharp dividing line somewhere, and it's likely to go in between male and female coops. That will not do.
Kestrel has nothing in common with a small accipiter but size. But for some reason early American colonists got mixed up and started calling the local kestrel population sparrowhawks (bit silly, since they aren't really that interested in sparrows)... And the habit stuck.
Please don't confuse sparrowhawks with kestrels. Eurasian kestrel's pretty much like your American kestrel, rather bigger, not quite so colorful. They're no good for hunting, you say? That's funny - I'd have assumed they'd act as much like an overgrown kbird as they look.
That's just one opinion. Most Falconers dont think even the Kestrel's of the USA can catch anything. That has been proven wrong in the last 10-15 Years.
They can catch more then just grasshoppers. Starlings and Sparrows if you train them right. One member on the forum even claims that his took a pigeon on a really lucky day.
Those early american settlers were English so don't blame us!
I found it in one of my books. The turkey buzzard was the first thing the settlers saw eating carrion. The common buzzard in UK is the carrion eater, so the TV got called a buzzard. Next they saw a redtail actively hunting so called it a hawk. The American Kestrel can act like a european sparrow hawk sometines must have been a similar mistake of naming based in habbits of the birds.
Almost no one calls the american kestrel a sparrow hawk anymore. Well, except when I did it last week.
Post by austringer84 on Feb 4, 2006 10:25:33 GMT -5
I've seen the european sparrow hawk, females (Spars) being flown at crows, magpies and gulls, they are fabulous in flight. I'd love to see more accipiters flown, they are amazing avian specialists in many cases, but to see a male gos on bunnies or a female gos on hares and bunnies,pheasants etc is a great bit of sport to.
Very few people actively persue game with kestrels in UK apparently, but I have herd good things about the american kes, especially on small birds in enclosed situations. would love to see them flown more regularly,as they are beautiful lil birds.
Those early american settlers were English so don't blame us!
I found it in one of my books. The turkey buzzard was the first thing the settlers saw eating carrion. The common buzzard in UK is the carrion eater, so the TV got called a buzzard. Next they saw a redtail actively hunting so called it a hawk. The American Kestrel can act like a european sparrow hawk sometines must have been a similar mistake of naming based in habbits of the birds.
Almost no one calls the american kestrel a sparrow hawk anymore. Well, except when I did it last week.
"Yeah, they weren't very bright". They were probably trying to go to Ireland when they landed in America.Come to think of it we still haven't managed to eradicate ignorance.