American Robin Gets Eaten By British Sparrowhawk

Now there are a couple of reasons why this is somewhat interesting. Firstly, robins (yep, the same orange-breasted robins that appear every spring) are not common in England it seems. Secondly, the bird was being photographed by birdwatchers in England, as they are a rarity. Third, the bird had to get caught up in the Jet Stream in order to make the trip.

And finally, the poor animal was eaten alive by a sparrow hawk that couldn’t resist what constituted an orange-breasted bulls eye, much to the horror of the birdwatchers:

But the trust’s migration watch organiser Dawn Balmer was more philosophical.

“Most of these rare visitors eventually succumb anyway to cold weather or a lack of food, if not predation,” she told the paper.

Ah well. I’m sure the Brits will get a chuckle out of the event as one more American getting trounced by superior British breeding. Although it does remind me of an article in the Washington Times concerning the snakefish that invaded the ponds in Maryland. . . the thrust of the article was that, for as terrified as environmentalists were about the impact of the snakefish on native wildlife, that it would never survive the carp, catfish, and smallmouth bass. “Bring it on” would have been an understatement!