Saw this brute ripping his prey apart - right in front of the aviary!! For some reason the image link won't work but here you go: https://ibb.co/K7K3hNS
I think so, but it looked bigger than than I would expect from them. It was a sizable bird it had downed.
That's a juvenile - kin ell, it was about 8 inch breast to head and stared me down as I walked outside
Wonderful fierce looking birds but can be bad news in and around gardens if you've got feeders up. There's a pair keep dropping in (literally, at what looks like 100mph) and picking birds off the feeders. I've moved all the feeders to more sheltered sites and I've seen birds leap off them into the tree and the hawk has crashed into the foliage, gone through the branches and still got them.
It can be upsetting to see but they have to eat as well, predator numbers are determined by prey numbers so despite the propaganda that had been shouted out by Songbird survival extremists, an increase in predator numbers mean that the prey species are actually doing well and not vice versa.
The other day, a cat was stood at the top of the steps leading to our garden. At the same time, a blackbird was feeding on our bird table. It noticed the cat and flew to the steps. It started screeching and flapping it's wings. This startled the cat, which began backing off. Not satisfied with this reaction, the blackbird hopped up the steps, continuing to screech and flap it's wings. At which point the cat ran off, closely followed by this blackbird doing an impressive impersonation of an angry goose! A few moments later, the blackbird returned to our bird table and continued it's meal. We've not seen the cat since!
When the blackbirds demand to be fed meal worms, I feed them meal worms! Other than Jurassic Park, I'm unaware of Richard Attenborough's fondness to wildlife!