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Hawk knocked unconscious during bird chase
- Author, Steven McKenzie
- Role, 大象传媒 Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter
A tiny bird had a lucky escape from the clutches of a hunting bird of prey at an offshore wind farm site in the North Sea on Thursday.
The Northern wheatear was being pursued by the young sparrowhawk across a boat, before the raptor crashed into a window and knocked itself out.
To add insult to injury, the wheatear landed for a moment on the stunned hawk as if doing a victory pose. It then fluttered away.
The sparrowhawk recovered after about 20 minutes.
It then went on to catch and kill another, less fortunate, bird.
Northern wheatears are a summer visitor to the UK and Ireland. They spend the winter in Africa.
The birds eat insects and larvae.
Sparrowhawks prey on a range of other types of birds.
Males can take birds up the size of a thrush. Females, which are large, are known to catch pigeons.
Image courtesy of @Nestfinder5978.
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