Photos of the Day - Bathing Sparrowhawk

A few years ago this male Sparrowhawk would bathe in our garden pond, almost daily. On this occasion I was in my hide photographing smaller birds when it turned up. The lens I was using was far to big to fit all of the bird in and get shots of it bathing. So I literally crawled out of my hide and managed to get to the house, collected my 300mm lens , crawled back, swopped the lenses and the job was done. Who says you can't outwit a bird of prey.

Sparrowhawk up Close

I have been keen to get out to my hide over the last week as there have been up to 11 Greenfinches visiting the feeders, along with the 40 plus Goldfinches. Greenfinches have been quite scarce here for some time now, with only the occasional one visiting from time to time.
A brief spell of sunshine and I set myself up to photograph them. I had only been in the hide for 5 minutes when the alarm calls of  the Blue Tits alerted me to the probability of a Sparrowhawk in the area. It then swooped down in front of the hide hoping to catch an unwary Goldfinch. Without success, it perched up next to the feeders. As I was set up to photograph small birds it was too close to fit in the frame so I made the most of a few close up head and shoulder shots.

Sparrowhawk

I managed to creep up on this Sparrowhawk in the garden and get a few shots. It was busy watching the birds on the feeders, although it did look round at me a couple of times, it didn't take flight. I read that they only respond to movement and maybe my stealth like way of freezing every time it looked in my direction paid off.