Ian lundy wrote:
>
> After years of watching peregrines soaring around and occasionally hunting I
> finally saw a successful strike yesterday when I was staring out of my
> office window in the middle of Sydney. Peregrines are regulars around here
> and most days a pair seem to spend some time soaring around although before
> yesterday I hadn't actually seen them hunting here. Yesterday afternoon as
> I was staring aimlessly out the window two birds went flying past my window.
> They came from out of view and disappeared out of view quickly but I saw
> enough of them to tell that one was a peregrine and one was a pigeon and
> that the peregrine had made an unsuccessful attempt to catch itself some
> lunch. I assumed that the pigeon had survived after a lucky escape.
> Shortly afterwards as I was still staring out the window the birds came back
> into view from above. This time there were two peregrines and the pigeon.
> The pigeon was out in the open, 30 floors up with nowhere to hide. It
> looked like the easiest of catches for the peregrine, the pigeon was flying
> down and one of the peregrines just flew down and landed on the pigeon's
> back then carried the pigeon off, still flapping, to the top of a nearby
> building where it soon stopped flapping. And all of this happened within 50
> metres of where I was standing. Unfortunately I missed most of the chase
> but the catch was still pretty amazing to see at such close range.
>
> Ian Lundy
>
> *********************
>
> (02) 9251 1591 (w)
> (02) 9361 6252 (h)
> 0419 844 502 (m)
> *********************
Hi Ian,
I can relate to your sense of awe in relation to this incident. One of my most
memorable
bird-watching experiences was seeing a Peregrine harassing a small flock of
Welcome
Swallows on the beach at the Eyre Bird Observatory, WA in the early 1980s. The
swallows
out-manouevered the Peregrine while remaining as a tight flock because of their
aerobatic abilities. However, after several minutes of being harassed one
swallow made a
fatal mistake of trying to out-pace the Peregrine by flying in a relatively
straight
line out to sea. I focussed my binoculars on the swallow just in time to see it
being
snatched by the Peregrine. A wonderful sight, but not so good for the swallow!
Stephen Ambrose
RAOU Research and Conservation Manager
(at home)
Stephen Ambrose <> (at work)
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