A tiny bird believed to be a Northern wheatear turned out to be victorious after it successfully managed to escape from its prey, a hawk. The sparrowhawk was pursuing the Northern wheatear over an offshore wind farm site in the North Sea on Thursday. As the raptor knocked itself out on the window, the tiny bird did a victory pose by holding its head aloft as he does a victory pose before it flew.
The snap was later shared on Twitter by user ‘Nestfinder5978’ who said that their nephew sent them the snap. He wrote: “Had this hawk chasing this bird around a boat yesterday. The hawk flew into the window and knocked its self out, the bird it was chasing then landed on the hawk.”
My nephew works in the North Sea on a wind farm project he sent me this today -
‘Had this hawk chasing this bird around a boat yesterday. The hawk flew into the window and knocked it’s self out, the bird it was chasing then landed on the hawk. #lad ‘ pic.twitter.com/zJnrjz5Tmz
— Birdnesting... (@Nestfinders5978) September 6, 2018
The unlucky predator recovered after 20 minutes, before going hunting again. The photo has been liked more than 6,000 times and retweeted more than 2,000 times. According to Metro, Northern wheatears are known to visit the UK and Ireland in the summer months but migrate to Africa as the days get colder. Sparrowhawks almost entirely prey on other smaller birds. Males are known to be able to catch and kill birds up to the size of the thrush, while the larger females are able to catch and consume pigeons.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 08, 2018 07:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).