I did not see the Sharpie catch the House Sparrow, but it must have happened 
only seconds before I looked out the window.  I had my bins handy so I 
picked them up to watch what would happen next.  It was nature at its best.
    The Sharpie was about 15 feet away, and at 8x, the sight was incredible.
The sparrow was very much aliveand struggling to get free from the talons 
but the Sharpie had a good grip.  He started pulling out feathers and would 
stop every now and then and 'knead' the sparrow with its talons.  He would 
then go back to pulling out feathers.  After about a minute of this, the 
sparrow was not doing very well.  The struggles were less and eventually its 
eyes closed.  The Sharpie kept pulling feathers.  I glanced down, looking 
for the stool to sit on to watch the rest of the show.  When I glanced up 
again the Sharpie and sparrow were gone.  One of my cats had approached the 
picture window to look outside and spooked the bird.

Jim Wilson
Queenstown