In hand Sparrowhawk

Last weekend an email went out from Paz on the York Bird Club email thing saying he'd found a dead Sparrowhawk on a local walk. A week or so previous I'd found a dead Kestrel which proved a really interesting bird: see here so I quickly email Paz back and asked if I could have it and very kindly he said yes and went to pick it up for me.

On picking up the bird which had been carefully laid out it was clear it was an immaturish female (very brown and rufous colour and large size). I took the bird home and took some measurements and photos and took a more detailed look at it. It had a wing length of 235 mm and weighed 270 g. Not quite sure of cause of death (though head was a bit wobbly), looked to have been dead a day or so I think. The bird is aged as an immature (1st winter) female. The pictures below illustrate some of the finer points of the ageing of the bird.