By Warren Dick
THE Durban South area is blessed to have quite a few different species of birds of prey, and one of which that seems most tolerant to urban sprawl is the black sparrowhawk.
I even know of a pair that nest and successfully raise their chicks at the Old Fort Chapel in the middle of the CBD. The biggest key to this bird’s success is probably due to its taste for doves and pigeons, which are often chased down and caught in mid-air. Few sights are more thrilling for me to watch than these birds in the hunt.
This is one of the largest species of sparrowhawk found in the world, measuring around 50cm tall with a wingspan of one metre. The adults are mostly black in colour, with some white on the chest. This can vary dramatically between different individuals. Juveniles are a sandy brown colour with black specks. These birds mate for life, and will also come back to the same nest year after year to raise a new batch of chicks.
Like most other birds of prey, the black sparrowhawk is often hated and even killed by humans because of its natural hunting instinct. I am blessed to see these birds almost every day as they fly between my neighbours’ properties after pigeons and doves. Just as a lot of people do, my neighbours set up feeding stations to feed the wild birds in the afternoon and it is this that also attracts the black sparrowhawk. The hawks fly from feeding station to feeding station until they manage to capture a dove for supper. This natural instinct causes people to hate them. I have also heard of stories where hawks have caught people’s prized racing pigeons, or even eaten a pet African grey parrot the was left unattended on a play stand outside.
I really wish more people would realise that we live in Africa, a beautiful place with many interesting and even dangerous animals, birds, reptiles and insects. Rather than killing things we deem to endanger us or our pets, we need to learn to live with them and conserve them. I firmly believe every living creature was made with a plan and purpose and to remove something because of our own fears, will cause a major imbalance to our eco-system.
