Little Sparrowhawk - Accipter Minullus
Frustrating that with such a beautiful little bird I couldn't get my act together with the camera. I am c**p at taking pictures in low light conditions. I was trying to follow the "teachings of Dhillon" but on this occasion it was nothing doing.
These are basicially a miniature sparrowhawk whose main diet is insects, lizards and small bats ! They stand about 22cm from head to the tip of the tail so 2/3ds of so of a school ruler - dinky ! About the size of a medium build dove and smaller than a large pigeon.
On the subject of miniature birds of prey I saw a Merlin once on the Isle of Sheppey exploding into a flock of starlings each of which did not look much bigger than it. I think they come in at 16-18 cm or so. Small.
The award though has to go to a bird that can be found on the Malay peninsula - one of the those that you dream at night about in your "bower" with a birding fever (yes I dream birds - great anxious hunts through scattering flocks in treetops that never quite come into focus - chases through scrub following distant calls). I was reading a book called around the world in 4,000 birds t'other night. It reads too much like a shopping list with a couple chasing around for a year to set a world record - no time for a camera - just a hectic dash with many irritable episdes along the way. I don't like the premise as this site is very slow cooking but I like some of the descriptions of places and the lists of birds you might see.
I have started collecting bird books that I will one day hopefully use. I look up birds I see listed in these "Tickathons" as I read as otherwise its a pointless exercise. They just read as shopping lists as I say interspersed with "fantastic bird" and "wow what colours" and I doin;'t knwo what they look like. What's the point of describing a bird - at least on the radio you hear the calls. I got to a description of a flock (flock !) of raptors called Falconettes "huddled on a wire". I turned to the colour plate in Birds of South East Asia by Holland. They sounded like a 50's close harmony ensemble. My God ! I never knew ! Get this - tiny little miniature falcons with little round bodies like robins, tiny hooked beaks, tiny little beedy eyes and small pointed wings no bigger than a sparrow - 12 cm from the tip of the tail to the head. Little dolls house birds. Tiny miniature falcons that could fit in a tea cup. They must hunt very small prey.
I showed Mrs C - "look at those" - immediately she said "bring me one" - "what a picture ? Can't wait" I said "No the actual bird - I want one" she replied - she looked serious. "Just get me one". This then is the depraved pillow talk in the Al Barsha Villa. Talk of smuggling missions to the far East for dinky Falcons that can be cosseted in private and oohed over. I have never wanted to own a bird - I can imagine though turning up at some high brow falconry event in the Middle East with a tiny dinky little Falconette perfectly trained to fetch miniature lures tied on the end of cotton. Like some wierd circus event. So thats that then - I have to risk imprisonment to capture and smuggle a tiny weeny Falconette back to Dubai from Kuala Lumpa. I can imagine it getting free of my pocket on an Airbus 380 and getting stuck in someones hair like a tiny bat or swooping up and down the cabin while I looked down at my table and hid my birdbooks. Would everyone scream or go "Ah - a weeny Falcon". "Sooooo cute" or "Daddy I want one".
Anyway I won't be smuggling Falconettes before you report me to Interpol - but I gotta get me a picture of one - Several - and there are several species. And I have got to make sure it isn't a blurred photo ++ I need a ruler alongside. All tricky.
So if you think these blurred miniature sparrowhawks are cute we can shrink down even further ! Falcons smaller than Shrikes ! I am loving this - I never knew there was such a thing until last night.
Little Sparrowhawk, Accipter Minullus
Tanzania, Northern Serengeti, Mara River, Olakira Camp
July 2012
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