Garden Goshawk

A young male goshawk killed and ate a juvenile rook outside my kitchen window this morning - the rook had been feeding on fallen seed under the bird feeder. I must have seen him seconds after he'd pounced, and was able to freeze, slink away and grab the camera while he was busy. The rook put up a struggle and took nearly 15 minutes to die; the goshawk then ate for half an hour in situ before dragging the carcass to the safety of the hedge, where he ate for another half an hour - he ate most of the rook. He helpfully measured himself against the fence, I was able to estimate length around 52 cms - somewhat larger than the rook. Eventually he dragged the remains into next door's garden - when I went to check, he'd evidently removed it altogether. The whole encounter took around 90 minutes. Curiously, once he'd started to eat, the birds returned to the bird feeder barely 3 feet over his head.